James E. Wilkerson

Funeral services for James E. Wilkerson M.D., PhD., of Palestine, will be at 11 am Saturday, Aug. 30, 2008, at Southside Baptist Church with Dr. Stephen Holcombe officiating. Burial will follow at Land of Memory Cemetery under the direction of Herrington/Land of Memory Funeral Home.

Dr. Wilkerson died Monday, Aug. 25, 2008, at Palestine Regional Medical Center.

Dr. Wilkerson was born and raised in Kingsville, Texas. He graduated with Highest Honors from H.M. King High School in Kingsville in 1963 and received numerous track and field medals from 1961-1963. He then attended Rice University in Houston on a Track and Field scholarship. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Health and Physical Education from Rice University. While at Rice University in 1965, he ran on a relay team that set a world's record in the 120-yard Shuttle Hurdle and was the Southwest Conference champion. He also competed at the USTFF 110 Meter Hurdles National Championship Finals in Albuquerque, N.M., in 1967.

After graduating from Rice University, Dr. Wilkerson attended the University of Oregon, in Eugene, Ore., on an NDEA Title IV Graduate fellowship. While at the University of Oregon, he earned a Master of Arts degree in Physical Education with a minor in Biology. He also was awarded a Master of Science degree in biology with a minor in biochemistry, and a Doctor of Philosophy degree in human performance with a minor in computer science.

Upon graduation with his doctorate degree, Dr. Wilkerson spent five years at the Institute of Environmental Stress at the University of California at Santa Barbara doing post-doctoral research in the fields of exercise and environmental physiology. He was awarded fellowship grants from the Santa Barbara chapter of the American Heart Association, the National Institutes of Health, and other agencies. At the Institute of Environmental Stress, Dr. Wilkerson served as the director of the Nuclear and Analytical Chemistry Laboratories, and was an Assistant Research Professor with the University of California at Santa Barbara.

Dr. Wilkerson then became the Director of the Exercise Physiology Laboratories at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana. With academic appointments in the Department of Physical Education (School of Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance) and the Department of Physiology (School of Medicine), Dr. Wilkerson continued to teach, perform both basic and applied research, and to mentor graduate students at the Master's and Doctoral level. He had twenty-five doctoral students complete their programs under his direction. Dr. Wilkerson published more than seventy-five articles and abstracts in refereed scientific and clinical journals. He was a visiting professor at The Johns Hopkins University in the School of Public Health. He was a visiting professor in the School of Medicine at the University of Kuwait, and in Helwan University, Cairo, Egypt. He also did a sabbatical leave with the Orbiting Astrophysical Observatory Corporation at the Brooks School of Aerospace Medicine on Brooks Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas.

Subsequently, at age 40, he entered The School of Medicine of the University of Miami, in Miami, Fla. He finished medical school in two years. He then did a three-year residency in internal medicine, and then a three-year fellowship in cardiovascular disease with the University of Miami at Jackson Memorial Hospital and the Veterans Administration Hospital in Miami, Fla. After completing his post-graduate medical education, he entered into private practice as an invasive, non-interventional cardiologist with the Valley Diagnostic Clinic in Harlingen, Texas. He served as the President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Valley Diagnostic Clinic for four of the five years he worked there. In 1998, Dr. Wilkerson and his family came to Palestine, Texas, to begin working with the East Texas Physician Alliance as an invasive, non-interventional cardiologist. He was a partner in the newly opened Magnolia Medical Plaza in Palestine where he served the cardiology needs of the people of Palestine, Anderson County, and East Texas.

Dr. Wilkerson is survived by his wife, Mickie Wilkerson; three sons, Zachary Casares-Wilkerson, Cody Casares-Wilkerson, and Thomas Wilkerson, all of Palestine; two daughters, Michelle Kathryn Miller and husband Jay of Greenwood, Ind., Noelani Wilkerson of Palestine, and five grandchildren of Greenwood, Ind.

Pallbearers will be Kenneth Houck, Chuck Mild, Jon Roberson, Wilson Dew, Jay Miller and Barney McCoy.

Condolence calls will be received from 6-8 pm Friday, Aug. 29, 2008, at Herrington/Land of Memory Funeral Home, Palestine.