George Walter McCoy

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George Walter McCoy


4th Director of the National Institutes of Health
In office November 20, 1915 – January 31, 1937
President	Woodrow Wilson Warren G. Harding Calvin Coolidge Herbert Hoover Franklin D. Roosevelt
Preceded by	John Fleetezelle Anderson
Succeeded by	Lewis Ryers Thompson

Personal details
Born	1876 (1876) Cumberland Valley, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Died	April 2, 1952(1952-04-02) (aged 75–76)

Alma mater	University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine
Known for	Leprosy
Scientific career
Fields	Infectious diseases
Institutions	Public Health Service National Institute of Health Louisiana State University School of Medicine

George Walter McCoy (1876–1952) was an American physician. An international expert on leprosy, he served as director of the National Institute of Health for more than twenty years.

Early life and education

McCoy was born in 1876 in the Cumberland Valley of Pennsylvania.^[1] He was the son of Osborn George McCoy and his wife Lavanda Walters, and had one sibling, J. Ross McCoy, who died young in 1899.^[2] He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in 1898 and completed his internship at City Hospital in Newark, New Jersey.^[3]

Career

After completing his internship, McCoy joined the United States Public Health Service and was assigned to the U.S. Marine Hospital in San Francisco, California.^[4] While stationed in San Francisco, he became the director of the U.S. Plague Laboratory in 1908,^[3] and during his time there he discovered, and later isolated the pathogen responsible for, a "plague-like disease of rodents", later dubbed tularemia.^[5] In 1911, he was transferred to direct the U.S. Leprosy Investigation Station in Hawaii.^[3] In 1915, he was appointed the fourth head of the U.S. Hygienic Laboratory, which was renamed the National Institute of Health in 1930.^[4]

McCoy directed the NIH for more than twenty years, during which the agency expanded significantly. Apart from his administrative role, he continued to conduct major medical studies on a variety of diseases, and advocated a combined field and laboratory approach to public health research.^[1] He resigned his position as director in early 1937, but remained with the Public Health Service to conduct a large, nationwide survey on leprosy.^[4] In 1938, he left the PHS and joined the staff of the Louisiana State University School of Medicine in New Orleans, where he headed the Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health until his retirement in 1948.^[3] He died on 2 April 1952.^[1]

Awards and honors

McCoy served as president of the American Association of Immunologists from 1922-3. He was made an honorary member of Delta Omega in 1930.^[6] He was awarded the American Public Health Association's Sedgwick Memorial Medal in 1931.^[7]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c Armstrong, Charles, "George Walter McCoy, 1876-1952", Science 31 October 1952
^ "O.G. McCoy" obituary from Bedford Gazette, 31 August 1900
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "George W. McCoy, M.D.", American Association of Immunologists
^ ^a ^b ^c The NIH Almanac: George Walter McCoy, M.D.
^ Siderovski, Susan Hutton, "Tularemia", pp. 16-17
^ "Delta Omega"
^ "Previous Sedgwick Memorial Award Winners"

Government offices
Preceded by John F. Anderson	Director of National Institutes of Health 1915 – 1937	Succeeded by Lewis R. Thompson

v t e U.S. National Institutes of Health (list)
Institutes	National Cancer Institute National Eye Institute National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute National Human Genome Research Institute National Institute on Aging National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering National Institute of Child Health and Human Development National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases National Institute on Drug Abuse National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences National Institute of General Medical Sciences National Institute of Mental Health National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke National Institute of Nursing Research National Library of Medicine
Centers	Center for Information Technology Center for Scientific Review John E. Fogarty International Center National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences Vaccine Research Center National Institutes of Health Clinical Center
Programs	Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health Visible Human Project National Diabetes Education Program BRAIN Initiative
Directors	Joseph J. Kinyoun Milton J. Rosenau John F. Anderson George W. McCoy Lewis R. Thompson Rolla Dyer William H. Sebrell, Jr James Augustine Shannon Robert Q. Marston Robert Stone Donald S. Fredrickson James B. Wyngaarden Bernadine Healy Harold E. Varmus Elias Zerhouni Francis Collins Monica Bertagnolli
Related	NIH Record United States Public Health Service Division of Intramural Research National Institutes of Health campus National Institutes of Health Director's Pioneer Award NIH Public Access Policy National Center for Research Resources National Institutes of Health Police Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare
Italics indicate acting officeholders

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International	VIAF WorldCat
National	United States Netherlands