Interview with Richard M. Magraw, October 3, 1984

Interview Summary

Eastern Virginia University Medical Center; Magraw Family history; educational background; attending medical school at the University of Minnesota; interning at Ancker Hospital in St. Paul; co-op group practice in Two Harbors-- Minnesota; accepting a position at the University of Minnesota and ultimately becoming Assistant Dean; his early interest in social medicine; becoming Director of the Comprehensive Clinic Program; tumult in the medical community after World War II between the rural general practitioners and the medical faculties; accepting a position as Deputy to the Assistant Secretary for Health in Washington-- D.C. under the Johnson and Nixon administrations; accepting position as Deputy Executive Dean at Illinois to develop a medical school; organizing the "Boat Rockers Society" in Washington-- D.C.; accepting position of President of the Eastern Virginia Medical Authority (formerly the Norfolk Area Medical Center Authority) in 1972 and its history; resistance from Richmond and Charlottesville to establishing another state medical school in Virginia; failure by the Authority to get the school accredited before Magraw arrived; forming an advisory committee to help with faculty recruitment to get accredited; importance of affiliating with Old Dominion University; acquiring Lee Memorial Hospital for the physical plant; changing the identity from Norfolk to Tidewater; parochial rivalries between Portsmouth-- Norfolk-- Suffolk-- Hampton-- Newport News and Virginia Beach; establishing a Graduate School of Medicine; importance of Sidney Kellam in getting Virginia Beach to support the Medical School; members of Magraw's development and fundraising team (Harry Mansback-- Dick Welton-- Henry Clay Hoffheimer-- Wright Harrison-- Sherwood Lyles-- Sol Rawles); role of the faculty in developing a facility and curriculum; recruiting faculty; stressing indigent care to the legislature to receive funding for the physical plant; struggle to remain independent of Norfolk General Hospital; opposition by faculty to indigent care; racism in the medical community in the Tidewater area; town-gown relationship between the Medical School and Medical Center and community; recruiting Richard Peters as administrative officer; Magraw's supporters and antagonists; loneliness of Magraw's position; reason for Magraw's being asked to resign by the commissioners in 1978; Magraw's opinion on faculty service plans.

Interview Keyword

Health Services Medicine Physicians

Interview LC Subject

Academic medical centers Magraw, Richard M. Magraw, Richard M.--Interviews

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