May 29, 2008
C. Everett Koop to be honored at Children’s Hospital June 4
Former Surgeon General of the United States C. Everett Koop will be the honored guest and featured speaker at a celebration of the Herbert E. Coe Endowed Chair in Pediatric Surgery at UW Medicine on Wednesday, June 4. The celebration will take place from 4:30-6 p.m. in Wright Auditorium, Seattle Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center, 4800 Sand Point Way N.E.
Dr. Koop is currently the Elizabeth DeCamp McInerny Professor of Surgery at Dartmouth Medical School. He is emeritus professor of surgery and pediatrics, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, and emeritus surgeon-in-chief, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (the country’s oldest children’s hospital). From 1981 to 1989, he was surgeon general, U.S. Public Health Service, and deputy assistant secretary for health, Department of Health and Human Services.
As surgeon general, Koop oversaw the Public Health Service Commissioned Corps and advised the public on health matters such as smoking and health, diet and nutrition, environmental health hazards, and the importance of immunization and disease prevention. In 1982, he was appointed Director of the Office of International Health and became the government’s chief spokesperson on AIDS.
The Herbert E. Coe Endowed Chair in Pediatric Surgery has been established at the University of Washington to honor the memory of Dr. Herbert Coe, who devoted his career to pediatric surgery and played a key role in establishing the field as a specialty. He was the first surgeon in the country whose practice was devoted exclusively to children. He had a long association with Children’s Hospital, where he served as chief of staff and chief of the surgical service.
For more information and to RSVP, phone 206-543-7873 or e-mail meddev@u.washington.edu by May 30.
