The Gorgas Medal was originally established as an annual award in 1915 by the Medical Reserve Corps Association of New York in honor of Surgeon General William C. Gorgas, U.S. Army. The award was based on a writing competition open to members of the U.S. Army Medical Corps, the U.S. Army Medical Reserve Corps, and to Medical Corps members of other “organized militia”. Surgeon General Gorgas appointed Colonel Charles Richard, Lieutenant Colonel Champe C. McCulloch, Jr., and Major Eugene R. Whitmore, Medical Corps, to form a review board and act as judge and jury for the writing competition. These officers were members of the Army Medical School faculty. In 1942, the Gorgas Medal was established by Wyeth Laboratories of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to honor Major General William Crawford Gorgas. The award was to be presented annually for ‘distinguished work in preventative medicine’. The award consisted of a Silver Medal, a scroll, and an honorarium of $500. In 2010, the Association of Military Surgeons of the United States (AMSUS) restructured the awards program and the Gorgas Medal and Prize was no longer awarded. AMSUS took over administering the Gorgas Medal for Wyeth and renamed the award the William Gorgas Preventive Medicine Award. AMSUS is the Society of Federal Health Professionals. The award was given to an individual for 'distinguished work in preventive medicine, clinical application, education or research'. To be eligible for the award, nominees had to be veterinarians, environmental engineers or sanitation engineers, or from other discipline not from other individual professional award categories from any of the five health agencies represented by AMSUS. The criteria for receiving the award required the individual to have demonstrated accomplishments in accordance with the following objectives:
AMSUS. "AMSUS Annual Awards Program" (PDF).
List of Gorgas Medal Awardees by decade
2000s 2009, Colonel Lisa Keep, United States Army Medical Corps 2008, Lieutenant Colonel Rodney L. Coldren, United States Army Medical Corps 2007, Colonel Ralph L. Erickson, United States Army Medical Corps 2006, Captain Sven E. Rodenbeck, United States Public Health Service 2005, Captain Laurence Reed, United States Public Health Service 2004, Colonel Bonnie L. Smoak, United States Army Medical Corps 2003, Rear Admiral Robert C. Williams, United States Public Health Service 2002, Colonel Raj K. Gupta, United States Army Medical Service Corps 2001, Colonel Patrick W. Kelley, United States Army Medical Corps 2000, John D. Hamilton, M.D., Veterans Administration
1990s 1999, Captain Frederick Burkle, Jr., MC, United States Naval Reserve 1998, Rear Admiral Douglas B. Kamerow, United States Public Health Service 1997, Colonel Michael W. Benenson, United States Army Medical Corps 1996, Captain Robert N. Hoover, United States Public Health Service 1995, Colonel William H. Bancroft, United States Army Medical Corps 1994, Captain John D. Boice, Jr., United States Public Health Service 1993, Rear Admiral James O. Mason, United States Public Health Service 1992, Captain John Richard Gorham, United States Public Health Service 1991, Captain George James Hill, MC United States Naval Reserve 1990, Colonel Alfred K. Cheng, USAF MC
1980s 1989, Captain Joseph F. Fraumeni, Jr., United States Public Health Service 1988, Lieutenant Colonel Wilbur Kearse Milhous, MSC United States Army 1987, John Donald Millar, M.D., United States Public Health Service 1986, John V. Bennett, M.D., United States Public Health Service 1985, Colonel Llewellyn J. Legters, United States Army Medical Corps Retired 1984, Lieutenant Colonel Ernest T. Takafuji, United States Army Medical Corps 1983, Colonel George D. Lathrop, USAF MC 1983, Lieutenant Colonel William H. Wolfe, USAF MC 1983, Dr. Richard A. Albanese 1982, Captain Robert Lincoln Kaiser, United States Public Health Service 1981, Captain Eugene G. Rudd, United States Army Medical Corps 1980, Commander Richard R. Hooper, MC USN
1970s 1979, Colonel Craig J. Canfield, United States Army Medical Corps 1978, Colonel George D. Lathrop, USAF MC 1977, Robert H. Purcell, M.D., United States Public Health Service 1976, Captain George M. Lawton, MC USN 1975, Colonel Phillip K. Russell, United States Army Medical Corps 1974, Martin D. Young, Sc.D. 1973, Captain Charles W. Ochs, MC USN 1972, Dr. Robert M. Chanock, United States Public Health Service 1971, Malcolm S. Artenstein, M.D., United States Army 1970, Colonel Dan Crozier, United States Army Medical Corps
1960s 1969, Patricia A. Webb, M.D., United States Public Health Service 1968, Samuel W. Simmons, M.D., United States Public Health Service 1967, Captain James R. Kingston, MC USN 1966, Colonel William D. Tigertt, United States Army Medical Corps 1965, Lieutenant Colonel Edward L. Buescher, United States Army Medical Corps 1964, Dr. Harry D. Pratt, United States Public Health Service 1963, Charles C. Shepard, Chief Project Unit, United States Public Health Service 1962, Lieutenant Colonel William S. Gochenour, United States Army Veterinary Corps 1961, Dr. James Shaw (Asst. SG, United States Public Health Service) 1960, Captain David Minard, M.D., Ph.D., Master of Public Health, MC USN
1950s 1959, Colonel Albert J. Glass, United States Army Medical Corps 1958, Lieutenant Commander John H. Ebersole, M.D., MC USN 1957, Colonel John Paul Stapp, USAF MC 1956, Captain Robert S. Poos, MC USN 1955, Colonel Victor A. Byrnes, USAF MC 1954, Dr. G. Robert Coatney, United States Public Health Service 1953, Colonel Douglas B. Kendricks, Jr., United States Army Medical Corps 1953, Captain Lloyd R. Newhouser, MC USN 1952, Brigadier General James Stevens Simmons, United States Army Retired 1951, Rear Admiral C.S. Stephenson, United States Army Retired 1950, Major General Malcolm C. Grow, United States Air Force Retired
1940s 1949, Dental Director H. Trendley Dean, United States Public Health Service 1948, Major General Edgar Erskine Hume, United States Army Medical Corps 1947, Major General Paul R. Hawley, United States Army Retired 1946, Brig. General Raymond A. Kelser, United States Army Retired 1945, Captain L.T. Coggeshall, MC USNR 1944, Commander James J. Sapero, MC USN 1943, Surgeon General Hugh S. Cumming, United States Public Health Service Retired 1942, Rear Admiral E.R. Stitt, United States Navy Retired 1942, Brigadier General Jefferson Randolph Kean, United States Army Retired 1942, Brigadier General Frederick Fuller Russell, United States Army Medical Corps, Reserve
See also List of medicine awards
References
External links Association of Military Surgeons of the United States