TN Health Care Hall of Fame winners named
John Henry and Millie Hale, who turned their home into a medical clinic for African Americans turned away from whites-only hospitals in the early 1900s, are among seven Tennessee Health Care Hall of Fame honorees announced Thursday.
The fourth annual awards class included doctors, nurses, professors and philanthropists who “made significant and lasting contributions to the health and health care industries.”
Community role models and people who demonstrated high ethical conduct were prioritized for the honor, created by Belmont University, the McWhorter Society and 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,” said President of the Nashville Health Care Council Hayley Hovious.
Healthcare leaders across the state chose the winners from a pool of 40 nominees. The winners are: ❚ Monroe Carell, Jr.: A prominent philanthropist whose name precedes the Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt, he was a businessman and CEO of Central Parking Corp.
❚ Carol Etherington: Founder of the Nashville Preventative Partnership that works to reduce substance abuse, she developed the nation’s first police department counseling program in Nashville. She currently chairs the Metro
Nashville Board of Health and mentors Vanderbilt Institute for Global Health students.
❚ Dr. John Henry Hale & Millie Hale: Turned their home into a medical clinic for African Americans who were rejected from whites-only hospitals in 1916. She created a training center for nurses across the South, and he was professor of clinical medicine and surgery at Meharry Medical College.
❚ Dr. Lynn Massingale: Founded and chairs TeamHealth physician support service and served as EMS Medical Director of Tennessee. She was named a “Hero of Emergency Medicine” by the American College of Emergency Physicians and awarded Ernst & Young “Entrepreneur of the Year” award.
❚ Dr. William Schaffner: Professor and chair at Vanderbilt University’s department of preventive medicine for 31 years, he is the longest-serving member of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s advisory committee on immunization practices. He is also the past president and current medical director of the National Foundation for Infectious Disease.
❚ Dr. Matthew Walker, Sr.: Founded the Matthew Walker Comprehensive Health Center, Inc., and was a longtime Meharry Medical College professor credited with training half of the African Americans in the U.S. at the time of his death. He was one of the first African Americans voted into the Nashville Academy of Medicine.
The seven honorees will be inducted at a ceremony in October.