GEORGE W. HAMBRICK

HAMBRICK--Dr. George W. Jr. December 4, 1922 December 10, 2013. We honor the life of George W. Hambrick, Jr., MD, a man who devoted his life to helping other people. A giant in the field of medicine, he was the father of the modern field of dermatology. A superb clinician and prolific researcher, he was able to help millions of people through the doctors he trained and mentored, the medical breakthroughs he pioneered, and the philosophy by which he lived. He was a devoted public health advocate and spent much of the second half of his life using his medical knowledge to serve people at free clinics. In 1987, drawing on a loyal following of patients and his considerable administrative skills, Dr. Hambrick established American Skin Association (ASA), a lay organization for educating the public, building bridges with the dermatology community, and raising funds to support dermatology research. As Founder and the first President of ASA, he nurtured the development of a far reaching network which, along with its affiliates, has contributed tens of millions of dollars in recent years to fund the work of both young and established investigators while raising the level of public awareness about skin disorders. Retirement was not a part of his professional lexicon; through his ninth decade, Dr. Hambrick was still teaching, caring for patients, and playing an active and defining the role in ASA. Dr. Hambrick tirelessly devoted his professional life to the advancement of cutaneous medicine both at the bedside and as a scientific discipline. He served with great distinction as the Chair of three Departments of Dermatology: Johns Hopkins University, University of Cincinnati, and Cornell University. An enduring legacy of Dr. Hambrick's chairmanships was the evolution to full departmental status of the Divisions of Dermatology at Johns Hopkins and at Cornell. Dr. Hambrick was an influential leader in the profession, serving as Trustee and President of the Dermatology Foundation, as a member of the Board of Directors of both the Association of Professors of Dermatology and the American Academy of Dermatology, and member of the House of Delegates of the American Medical Association, representing the Society for Investigative Dermatology for many years. At the Society for Investigative Dermatology, Dr. Hambrick served in virtually all official capacities, including Vice President and President, as well as Secretary-Treasurer. He has held visiting lectureships and professorships at many institutions in the United States and around the world, and he is first or co-author of 75 publications. A graduate of Concord College (BS, magna cum laude, 1944) and the University of Virginia (MD, Alpha Omega Alpha, 1946), Dr. Hambrick pursued his dermatology residency training at the University of Virginia Hospitals and Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital. He served in the United States Army Medical Corps stationed in Okinawa, Japan (1948-50). With the completion of a research fellowship at Duke University Medical Center, he taught at Duke, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, and the University of Pennsylvania. After positions a the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, with the encouragement of his former student and long-time colleague and friend, the late D. Martin Carter, he became Professor and Co-Head of the Division of Dermatology at the Cornell University Medical College in New York City and then Emeritus Professor of Dermatology at Weill Cornell. The George W. Hambrick, Jr. Professorship of Dermatology was established in 1993. The Chairman of the Weill Cornell Medical College Department of Dermatology occupies the George W. Hambrick Chair. Dr. Hambrick was an energetic and elegant gentleman. He was a proud son of Virginia who honored the traditions of his forbearers who first settled in the colony of Virginia in the early 17th century. He was devoted to the memory of Thomas Jefferson and although his medical career took him to many other places, George Hambrick remained throughout a leading citizen of Charlottesville. After 70 years of dedication to medical practice and education, Dr. Hambrick stands out as a champion of excellence in patient care, teaching, scholarship and advocacy for dermatology whose career perfectly reflects the highest ideals of the medical profession. Beyond a prodigious commitment to training generations of dermatologists and promoting scientific excellence in dermatology, he was always first and foremost a humane and compassionate physician. The entire Board and staff of American Skin Association and all those who had the good fortune to be touched by his genius and his generosity of spirit grieve for his loss. He will be sorely missed. Howard P. Milstein Chairman American Skin Association