Donald M. Gallant M.D.

Donald M. Gallant, M.D.

Memphis - Donald M. Gallant, M.D., Professor Emeritus, Department of Psychiatry and Neurology, Tulane University Health Sciences Center, New Orleans, LA and Clinical Professor of Psychiatry in the College of Medicine at the University of Tennessee Health Sciences Center died March 11, 2020 in Memphis, TN. Dr. Gallant who was born in Brooklyn, New York, was graduated from Tulane University in 1951 and Tulane Medical School in 1955. After completing his residency training in Psychiatry, he joined the Tulane Faculty, where he spent most of his professional career.

His major fields of scientific interest were teaching Psychiatry and Substance Abuse to medical students and residents; psychopharmacology research; treatment of patients with alcoholism and drug abuse; group techniques and therapy; and Community Psychiatry in poverty areas.

During his professional career, Dr. Gallant held many national positions, including the National Advisory Council of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism of ADAMHA. He was the Medical Director of the Alcoholism and Drug Abuse section of Southeast Louisiana Hospital in Mandeville, Louisiana for nearly 30 years. He served as a member of the Psychopharmacology Drug Advisory Council of FDA for 4 years.

Dr. Gallant received many honorary awards, including the Amersa award for "Excellence in Medical Education," the Gloria Walsh Award for" inspiring teaching, wise council, and, keen interest in the welfare of the students" at Tulane Medical School. One of the outstanding awards Dr. Gallant received was the "Gold Achievement Award" from the American Psychiatric Association. As director of Medical Student Education, he received the Owl Club Award presented by the students for "outstanding Clinical teaching" every year from 1976 through 1991 when he retired from the full-time faculty at Tulane.

Dr. Gallant was a member of too many scientific originations to mention individually. He was a Life Fellow Emeritus in the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology. His personal publications numbered over 230 articles in Peer Review journals and books which he authored or edited. He continued to teach at Tulane Medical School until 2005 when Hurricane Katrina destroyed his and his wife's home. They moved to Memphis, Tennessee where he became affiliated with the University of Tennessee Medical School in Memphis as a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry in the Health Sciences Center. There he continued to teach students and medical residents. As one of his former students put it: "He was a master teacher." During that period, he also devoted time to treating patients at the Church Health Center in Memphis.

He was married to the late Joyce Cooper Gallant, his wife of 59 years and was father of the late Dianne Gallant Morris. It was Dr. Gallant's wish that those desiring to make contributions donate to the Joyce Gallant Medication Fund at Church Health, 1350 Concourse Ave., Ste. 142, Memphis, TN 38104.