George Walter McCoy (1876–1952) was an American physician. An international expert on

leprosy Leprosy, also known as Hansen's disease (HD), is a Chronic condition, long-term infection by the bacteria ''Mycobacterium leprae'' or ''Mycobacterium lepromatosis''. Infection can lead to damage of the Peripheral nervous system, nerves, respir ...

, he served as director of the

National Institute of Health The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in 1887 and is part of the United States Department of Health and Human Servic ...

for more than twenty years.

Early life and education

McCoy was born in 1876 in the

Cumberland Valley The Cumberland Valley is a northern constituent valley of the Great Appalachian Valley, within the Atlantic Seaboard watershed in Pennsylvania and Maryland. The Appalachian Trail crosses through the valley. Geography The valley is bound t ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

. Armstrong, Charles
"George Walter McCoy, 1876-1952"
''

Science Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

'' 31 October 1952 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."O.G. McCoy"
obituary from Bedford Gazette, 31 August 1900 He graduated from the

University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine The Perelman School of Medicine (commonly known as Penn Med) is the medical school of the University of Pennsylvania, a Private university, private, Ivy League research university located in Philadelphia. Founded in 1765, the Perelman School of M ...

in 1898 and completed his internship at City Hospital in

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, most populous City (New Jersey), city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, the county seat of Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, and a principal city of the New York metropolitan area. ...

."George W. McCoy, M.D."
American Association of Immunologists

Career

After completing his internship, McCoy joined the

United States Public Health Service The United States Public Health Service (USPHS or PHS) is a collection of agencies of the Department of Health and Human Services which manages public health, containing nine out of the department's twelve operating divisions. The assistant s ...

and was assigned to the U.S. Marine Hospital in

San Francisco, California San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

.The NIH Almanac: George Walter McCoy, M.D.
/ref> While stationed in San Francisco, he became the director of the U.S. Plague Laboratory in 1908, and during his time there he discovered, and later isolated the pathogen responsible for, a "plague-like disease of rodents", later dubbed

tularemia Tularemia, also known as rabbit fever, is an infectious disease caused by the bacterium '' Francisella tularensis''. Symptoms may include fever, skin ulcers, and enlarged lymph nodes. Occasionally, a form that results in pneumonia or a throat ...

.Siderovski, Susan Hutton
"Tularemia"
pp. 16-17 In 1911, he was transferred to direct the U.S. Leprosy Investigation Station in

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

. In 1915, he was appointed the fourth head of the U.S. Hygienic Laboratory, which was renamed the National Institute of Health in 1930. 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. He resigned his position as director in early 1937, but remained with the Public Health Service to conduct a large, nationwide survey on leprosy. In 1938, he left the PHS and joined the staff of the Louisiana State University School of Medicine in

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

, where he headed the Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health until his retirement in 1948. He died on 2 April 1952.

Awards and honors

McCoy served as president of the

American Association of Immunologists American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

from 1922-3. He was made an honorary member of

Delta Omega Delta Omega Society () is an international honorary society for studies in public health. It was founded in 1924 at the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. The society has chartered 122 chapters ...

in 1930."Delta Omega"
/ref> He was awarded the

American Public Health Association The American Public Health Association (APHA) is a Washington, D.C.–based professional membership and advocacy organization for public health professionals in the United States. APHA is the largest professional organization of public health pr ...

Sedgwick Memorial Medal The Sedgwick Memorial Medal, given by the American Public Health Association, was established in 1929 for distinguished service and advancement of public health knowledge and practice. It is considered the APHA's highest honor. The medal is estab ...

in 1931."Previous Sedgwick Memorial Award Winners"
/ref>

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McCoy, George Walter 1876 births 1952 deaths Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania alumni Louisiana State University faculty American public health doctors Directors of the National Institutes of Health Woodrow Wilson administration personnel Harding administration personnel Coolidge administration personnel Hoover administration personnel Franklin D. Roosevelt administration personnel