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

leprosy Leprosy, also known as Hansen's disease (HD), is a long-term infection by the bacteria ''Mycobacterium leprae'' or ''Mycobacterium lepromatosis''. Infection can lead to damage of the nerves, respiratory tract, skin, and eyes. This nerve damag ...

, he served as director of the

National Institute of Health The National Institutes of Health, commonly referred to as NIH (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in the late 1 ...

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 to th ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

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

Science Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...

'' 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 The ''Bedford Gazette'' is an American daily newspaper serving Bedford, Pennsylvania, with a circulation of approximately 10,000 copies. It is run by Sample News Group. History Launched as a Federalist weekly on September 21, 1805, its founder Mc ...

, 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 research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1765, the Perelman School of Medicine is the oldest medi ...

in 1898 and completed his internship at City Hospital in

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within 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 concerned with 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 (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

.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 infe ...

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

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

. 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 Louisiana State University School of Medicine refers to two separate medical schools in Louisiana: LSU School of Medicine in New Orleans and LSU School of Medicine in Shreveport. See also * LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans * LSU Health Scien ...

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

, 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 The American Association of Immunologists (AAI) is an international scientific society dedicated to furthering the study of immunology. AAI provides its members with a variety of platforms in which to exchange ideas and present the latest immunolo ...

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

Delta Omega Delta Omega () is the honorary society for studies in public health, founded at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health. History Delta Omega was founded in 1924 by two graduate students at the Johns Hopkins University B ...

in 1930."Delta Omega"
/ref> He was awarded the American Public Health Association's

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 esta ...

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