In the fall of 1972, ECU enrolled its first class of medical students. The students, twenty in number, embodied the school’s dedication to service and its longstanding commitment to healthcare education. Training School physician, Dr. Charles O’Hagan Laughinghouse (1871-1930), had been a leader in promoting modern medical practices such as vaccinations. He was also a leading figure in the establishment of a hospital in Greenville. By the late 1950s, East Carolina had become more fully committed to providing health care for the region through its new nursing program. Yet lacking proximity to a medical school, eastern North Carolina suffered from a dearth of physicians.
Few understood the predicament as well as those at East Carolina. Over time, the school’s leaders emerged as powerful advocates for a medical school, much as eastern leaders had earlier launched a push to establish a training school to address the state’s educational needs. The concerted efforts of the campus, community, and medical profession – along with the unrelenting determination of President Leo Warren Jenkins – came to fruition in 1965 with a commitment from the state legislature to fund planning for a one-year program. Despite skepticism from many, East Carolina’s endeavor succeeded and within a few years it was ready to open its new one-year medical program.
In 1972, Wallace R. Wooles (1931- ), a pharmacologist and founding dean, led ECU’s team of medical faculty in welcoming the program’s first students. Competition for admission had been strong: over four hundred applied for twenty openings. The program consisted of one year of training at ECU followed by the remainder at the UNC’s medical school. Classes were held in trailers near Christenbury Gymnasium. One of the first students, Douglas Privette, is an example of the founding ethic of the medical school and its dedication to serving eastern North Carolina. A native North Carolinian, Dr. Privette is today a leading cardiologist at Vidant Medical Center in Greenville. If there was a weakness in the new program, it was in diversity. There was only one female in the first class, Marjorie Rhodes Barnwell, one Chinese-American, Richard Lee Wing, and no other minorities.
In 1974, the state legislature appropriated $43 million to upgrade the one-year program into a four-year medical school. The upgrade came with a new mission: to increase medical training for minority and disadvantaged students. The charter class of twenty-eight students enrolled in 1977 and graduated four years later, in the spring of 1981. By that point, the new medical school was fully accredited, and was recognized as a promising and impressively diverse contribution to regional health care. In 1999, the medical school was renamed the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University in recognition of support from the Brody family. With every year, ECU’s Brody School of Medicine has served as a leader in providing for both excellence and diversity in medical training.
Included in the photograph of East Carolina University’s first medical school class are, sitting, Dr. Leo W. Jenkins and Dr. Wallace R. Wooles. The students include Marjorie Rhodes (Barnwell) Carr, Paul Douglas Barry, John Jacob Brantley, Leon Douglas Davis, James Bowman DeTorre, Ronald William Gerbe, George Daniel Jacobs, David Malcolm Larsen, Kenneth David Lempert, David Blair Neeland, James Sheridan Parsons, Douglas Craig Privette, Sheldon Michael Retchin, Robert Scott Shapiro, Thomas Lee Speros, Fronis Ray Thigpin, John William Uribe, George Waterhouse, Ray Allen Wertheim, and Richard Lee Wing.
Sources
- Boyd, Doug. “Inaugural Class of Medical School Honored.” ECU News Services. http://www.ecu.edu/cs-admin/news/med1.cfm.
- Bratton, Mary Jo Jackson. East Carolina: The Formative Years, 1907-1982. Greenville, NC: East Carolina University Alumni Association, 1986.
- “Brody School of Medicine, History: A Legacy of Commitment.” ECU. 2018. http://www.ecu.edu/cs-dhs/med/history.cfm.
- David J. Whichard II Papers (#1229), East Carolina Manuscript Collection, J. Y. Joyner Library, Greenville, North Carolina, USA.
- Ferrell, Henry C., Jr, ed. Promises Kept: East Carolina University, 1980-2007. Greenville, NC: East Carolina University, 2006.
- “First ECU School of Medicine students reunite at homecoming.” Health Beat. November 12, 2013. https://blog.ecu.edu/sites/healthbeat/first-ecu-school-of-medicine-students-reunite-at-ecus-homecoming/.
- “New School is Making History.” The Daily Reflector, September 3, 1972.
- Records of Leo W. Jenkins' Tenure. UA02-06. University Archives, Joyner Library, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC.
- Savage, Stuart. “’A First Step,’ Reminds Jenkins: New ECU Med School to be Launched Wednesday.” The Daily Reflector, September 5, 1972.
- Savage, Stuart. “ECU School of Medicine Opens Amid Hopes that Program can be Expanded into Four-Year School.” The Daily Reflector, September 6, 1972.
- Williams, Wayne C. Beginning of the School of Medicine at East Carolina University, 1964-1977. Greenville, N.C.: Brookcliff Publishers, 1998.
Citation Information
Title: First Medical Students
Author: John A. Tucker, PhD
Date of Publication:7/18/2019