Interview with Leroy E. Burney, April 27, 1984
Project: Academic Health Centers Oral History Project
Interview Summary
Temple University Medical Center history; Burney Family history; Burney's educational background - M.D. Indiana University 1930-- public health training Johns Hopkins University 1931-32; Dr. A.J. McLaughlin's influence on his career while in Chicago; Burney's introduction to public health; studying under Dr. Wade Hampton Frost-- Dr. E.V. McCollum-- Dr. William Howe-- Dr. Lowell Reed-- Dr. Raymond Pearl-- and Dr. Roscoe Hyde at Johns Hopkins; meeting Dr. Ernest Stebbins in Charlottesville-- North Carolina; taking and passing the Public Health Service examination in Washington-- D.C.; Burney's being loaned by Surgeon General Dr. Thomas Parran to be State Health Commissioner of Indiana in 1945 for nine years; recruitment by Temple University President Dr. Millard Gladfelter in 1960 to establish a Health Sciences Center; Dr. William Parkinson as dean of the Temple Medical School; the Medical School's early isolation from the rest of Temple University and how that changed over time; Burney's service as Surgeon General during the Eisenhower administration-- and as chair of the World Health Organization; recruitment by the University of Pennsylvania and Indiana University; reasons Burney accepted the position at Temple University; molding the Schools of Dentistry-- Pharmacy-- and the hospital into a more cohesive unit at Temple; the lack of physical plant planning at Temple; David Segal's involvement in the institution of a personnel system for the hospital; David Willis' involvement in planning the physical plant; Temple University's location in Philadelphia and social unrest and community outreach in the 1960s; financial problems encountered caring for the indigent; establishing a College of Allied Health Professions; impact of Temple's incorporation into Pennsylvania's state higher education system; problems Burney encountered with the Philadelphia City Planning Commission and City Council; Temple's competition with Pennsylvania University for recognition; beneficial federal programs that helped the community but were discontinued; establishing the North Philadelphia Regional Health Affiliates; the recruitment of Frank Crusen and establishing a physical medicine rehabilitation department at Temple; instituting degrees for health care administration and legal medicine at Temple; the lack of cooperation from the Departments of Anthropology and Sociology at Temple; the impact of Temple President Paul Anderson on the Health Sciences Center; Burney's acceptance of the presidency of the Milbank Fund; accomplishments of the Health Sciences Center; Temple's failure to get involved in the community in the 1960s; the impact of changing demographics in Philadelphia on Temple University; Frank Rizzo as Chief of Police and Temple's plan to cut back emergency and clinic health care; the reasons Burney feels he was not able to accomplish his mission at Temple; the recruitment of the first African-American faculty members at Temple-- Harold Haskins and Gordon Batts-- to the Health Sciences Center; qualifications Burney believes are needed to be a chief executive officer of an academic health center; Robert Bucher's contributions to the Health Sciences Center at Temple; a brief history of Temple University and its founder-- Russell Conwell.Interview Accession
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Interviews may be reproduced with permission from Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, Special Collections, University of Kentucky Libraries.Restriction
Interviews may be reproduced with permission from Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, Special Collections, University of Kentucky Libraries.
All rights to the interviews, including but not restricted to legal title, copyrights and literary property rights, have been transferred to the University of Kentucky Libraries.
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Burney, Leroy E. Interview by Joseph Hamburg. 27 Apr. 1984. Lexington, KY: Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky Libraries.
Burney, L.E. (1984, April 27). Interview by J. Hamburg. Academic Health Centers Oral History Project. Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky Libraries, Lexington.
Burney, Leroy E., interview by Joseph Hamburg. April 27, 1984, Academic Health Centers Oral History Project, Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky Libraries.
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