Third class also features South’s first African-American female surgeon, ’72 Nobel winner, St Jude’s first CEO
Nashville Post | Staff Reports
The Tennessee Health Care Hall of Fame on Tuesday announced the addition of a six-member 2017 class at a luncheon on Belmont University’s campus. The group grows the total number of Hall of Fame members to 20.
This year’s honorees were chosen by a selection committee from more than 30 highly qualified nominees and represent some of Tennessee’s most prominent health and health care pioneers, leaders and innovators. They are:
- Dr. Dorothy Lavinia Brown, the first African-American female surgeon in the south, a Tennessee House of Representatives and General Assembly Member, a longtime educator and chief of surgery at Riverside Hospital and clinical professor of surgery at Meharry Medical College and an advocate for women’s health, rights and education
- Dr. William “Bill” Frist, a former U.S. Senator and Majority Leader, founder of the Vanderbilt Transplant Center, the first heart and lung transplant surgeon at Vanderbilt, the founder of Hope Through Healing Hands and NashvilleHealth and a senior fellow at the Bipartisan Policy Center
- Joel Gordon, a 47-year health care veteran who introduced physician ownership/joint ventures as a business structure, the founder of GeneralCare and Surgical Care Associates, a co-founder of HealthWise of America and owner of Gordon Group Investment Management
- Dr. Harry Jacobson, a physician, entrepreneur and investor who founded or co-founded eight companies, a past Chair of the Nashville Health Care Council board of directors, an executive-in-residence at Belmont University’s Jack C. Massey College of Business, a past vice chancellor for health affairs at Vanderbilt University and former CEO of Vanderbilt University Medical Center
- Dr. Stanford Moore, a graduate of the University School of Nashville and Vanderbilt University and the recipient of the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1972 for his work with proteins and their composition, which informed decades of scientific work surrounding disease and drug discovery
- Dr. Donald Pinkel, the first director and CEO of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, recipient of the Lasker Award for Medical Research, the Kettering Prize for Cancer Research and the Pollin Prize for Pediatric Research and leader of the development of the first treatment for childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia
“This impressive group of inductees represents some of our state’s greatest talent,” said Hayley Hovious, president of the Nashville Health Care Council. “With individuals from all across Tennessee who have made a significant impact on their communities through their work as leaders, politicians, practitioners, scientists, philanthropists and innovators, the Hall of Fame is honored to induct such a deserving group of health care heroes.”
The Hall of Fame, which was created by Belmont and the McWhorter Society as well as the Health Care Council as a founding partner, will induct these individuals at a ceremony in October. For more info about past classes, see:
- The inaugural class of the Tennessee Health Care Hall of Fame
- The 2016 class of the Tennessee Health Care Hall of Fame
“One of the things I am incredibly grateful for is Belmont’s placement in Tennessee — a state that is widely recognized as a central hub for health care in the United States, with Nashville at the helm,” Belmont’s President Dr. Bob Fisher said. “Our community continues to see the efforts of so many as individuals and organizations take significant strides towards shaping and advancing the health and health care industries. Meanwhile, Belmont continues to play an increasingly significant role in undergraduate, graduate and executive health care education.”