For Immediate Release: Jan. 27, 2006
GALVESTON, Texas – Dr. Charles Sprague will be honored for his contributions to medicine when he is inducted as an inaugural Legends in Medicine, Saturday, Jan. 28, by the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. He graduated from UTMB.
UTMB, the oldest medical school in Texas and the state’s first academic health center, created the Legends in Medicine program to honor health care professionals who received training at one of its four schools or through its network of hospitals and clinics.
Other inductees are Drs. Mavis P. Kelsey, Edward B. Singleton, and William W. McGuire. Dr. John D. Stobo, UTMB president, will preside at the induction at UTMB’s William C. Levin Hall.
“By never settling for the status quo, they have opened our eyes to new possibilities,” Stobo said. “They have personally touched the lives of countless patients and, through a shared spirit of innovation and determination; they have transformed the health care landscape in our state and nation.”
Dr. Sprague, who died in 2005, was the driving force behind the expansion of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas. Dr. Sprague was a member of the class of 1943. When he was appointed president in 1967, UT Southwestern consisted of three classroom buildings attached to Parkland Memorial Hospital. By the time of his retirement in 1986, Sprague had transformed UT Southwestern into a complete academic health center with world class faculty, two of whom went on to win the first Nobel prize awarded to Texas researchers.
As co-founder of what became the Kelsey-Seybold Clinic, Dr. Kelsey, class of 1936, changed how Texas received medical care. He brought together a group of physicians under one roof who worked together, fostering continuity of care and adding specialties as medicine evolved. His most important innovation was to establish branch clinics as a means of health care delivery.
Dr. Singleton, class of 1946, comes from a family with deep roots in the UTMB community. Four generations have ties to the academic health center. However, it was his distinguished career in pediatric radiology and teaching that led to his inclusion in the UTMB Legends of Medicine. In addition to being a professor of radiology at Baylor College of Medicine and the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Singleton published three major books, including texts on the use of radiology to diagnose digestive tract problems in children and an atlas of pulmonary abnormalities in children. He believes his most important contribution to medicine was teaching future care givers.
Dr. McGuire, class of 1974, is a physician-researcher who leads a Fortune 50 company that seeks to “make the health care system work better.” Named chair and CEO of United HealthCare Corporation in 1991, he transformed its role in the marketplace from that of a traditional HMO into a diverse health care services business that promotes physicians as gateways to better care. Renamed UnitedHealth Group, the organization now serves 65 million people who access services that include programs for the elderly, health insurance, data, as well as and information and administrative services. McGuire was named one of Worth magazine’s 50 best CEOs in 2001. His focus today is on improving access to care, simplifying the health care experience and making health care more affordable.
The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston
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Marsha Canright: marsha.canright@utmb.edu