Honorary degrees pay tribute to early EVMS leaders

May 23, 2006

L-R: 2006 EVMS Honorary degree recipients Gerald Hall Holman, M.D., Jock R. Wheeler, M.D., and Charles E. Horton, Sr., M.D., with EVMS President Harry T. Lester and Dean and Provost Gerald J. Pepe, Ph.D.

NORFOLK—On May 22, 2006, EVMS presented honorary degrees to three physicians who have made significant contributions to the institution in its early years and in its more recent past.

The honorees are Gerald Hall Holman, M.D., former dean, vice president of academic affairs and the first chairman of the EVMS Department of Pediatrics; Charles E. Horton, Sr., M.D., founder and former chairman of the EVMS Division of Plastic Surgery, and chairman and founder of Physicians for Peace; and Jock R. Wheeler, M.D., former dean and former chairman of the EVMS Department of Surgery.

Holman, who is currently the medical director of Hospice Care of the Southwest in Amarillo, Tex., has 48 years of experience in academic medicine. Holman joined EVMS as professor and chairman of pediatrics in 1974 when the institution was in its infancy. In 1975, he became the interim dean and then the dean and vice president of academic affairs. Among Holman’s many accomplishments at EVMS was to develop the Tidewater Area Health Education Consortium, which brought together the area’s educational institutions to create the Human Values in Medicine program.

In 1979, he left EVMS to join the faculty at the Texas Tech University Regional Health Center (TTUHSC) where he held numerous positions. In 1991, he became the chief of staff at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Amarillo, Tex. From 1996 to 2004, he served as Vice President of Medical Education for Crown of Texas Hospice.

Prior to coming to EVMS, Holman held faculty positions at University Hospital in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan; the University of Kansas Medical School in Kansas City; the University of Georgia in Augusta; and the University of Calgary.

“His personal attention to the education of students, recruitment and enrichment of clinical and basic science faculty, and his administrative skills moved the school to a significant degree of excellence,” said one of the letters of recommendation for Holman. “… Without the nurturing skills of Dr. Holman, EVMS would not have become the outstanding academic medical school with the reputation of educating competent and compassionate physicians.”

“To be so recognized is a humbling honor and I’m very pleased that the struggle we had to get the school going more than 30 years ago was more than worth the quality of the graduates and the commitment to primary care and the commitment to the whole person that we started in 1975,” said Holman, whose son, Mark Holman, is a 1988 EVMS graduate.

Holman received his medical degree from the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and completed his residency at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. He received the Fist Schwentker Award for Research from the Johns Hopkins Hospital, was named a diplomate in the American Academy of Pain Management and has held numerous leadership positions in national organizations. In 1993, a lectureship was created in his name at TTUHSC.

Horton is the founder and chairman of Physician’s for Peace, an international non-profit medical education organization dedicated to building peace and international friendships in developing nations with unmet medical needs and scarce resources. Horton, a professor of plastic surgery at EVMS since 1974, was instrumental in establishing the commitment to humanism in medicine that distinguishes EVMS.

Horton also served as director of the EVMS graduate school of medicine, associate dean and director of continuing medical education, associate dean for clinical science relations and chairman and founder of what is now the division of plastic surgery. In addition to EVMS, Horton held faculty positions at the Medical College of Virginia and the University of Virginia School of Medicine, which created a plastic surgery professorship in his name, and he served as a plastic surgery consultant to the Surgeon General of the United States Navy. He has been invited to deliver more than 100 visiting professor lectures at medical schools around the world.

Horton’s numerous national and international awards include the 2002 Pride in the Profession Award from the American Medical Association and the 2004 Humanitarian Award from the Duke Medical Center and Medical Alumni Association. He holds honorary memberships in six international plastic surgery societies and received the Order of Independence, the highest civilian award from the country of Jordan.

“If Albert Schweitzer was correct when he said that ‘The only ones among you who will be really happy are those of you who have sought and found how to serve,’ Dr. Charles Horton must be the happiest person on earth,” said one of the letters of recommendation for Horton.

Horton said he is honored to receive the award for his life’s work in medicine, which he has devoted to service to his fellow man.

“I would never have achieved this award without support and help from my wife, children and friends,” Horton said. “I thank the faculty, deans and president of EVMS for my recognition and I am especially proud to be honored with my two friends, over many years in the past, who are also receiving honorary degrees.”

Horton received his bachelor of science from the University of Missouri and his medical degree from the University of Virginia. His postgraduate training included George Washington University, U.S. Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md. and Duke University for his plastic surgery residency. He completed a pathology fellowship at the University of Missouri and another fellowship in the United Kingdom at the Plastic Surgery Educational Foundation.

Jock R. Wheeler, M.D., professor emeritus of surgery at EVMS, has been a faculty member at EVMS since 1974. From 1994 to 1999 he served as dean and provost. Wheeler has served on 17 volunteer committees at EVMS including the Past Presidents’ Advisory Committee and the Academic Physicians and Surgeons Task Force Committee. The vascular fellowship clinical and research program at EVMS that he established has an international reputation. Since his retirement, he has continued to give generously of his time and of his personal resources to the institution.

In 1999, Wheeler received the Outstanding Contributions to the Medical Profession, Obici Hospital Medical Staff Award and was named one of the Best Doctors in America in a survey conducted by Woodward/White Inc. He is also a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha medical honor society and in the International Society for Endovascular Surgery.

“His intelligence, his probity, his sincere desire to be of value to EVMS, to his profession and to his community at large—all are revealed by the high esteem in which he is held by those who know him or have worked with him during his distinguished career,” said one of the letters of recommendation for Wheeler.

“I am extremely pleased to be recognized by the Eastern Virginia Medical School,” said Wheeler. “EVMS has been a major part of my medical life since its inception. My years as a faculty member and as dean and provost brought me joy and fulfillment on a daily basis.”

Wheeler received his bachelor of arts degree from the Virginia Military Institute and his medical degree from the Medical College of Virginia, where he also completed his internship and residency. Early in his career, he served as a U.S. Naval flight surgeon. He completed a fellowship in transplant and immunity at the Westminster Hospital in the United Kingdom.

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