T. Joseph Reeves, MD

Abstract

It is with profound sadness that we report the passing of T. Joseph “Joe” Reeves on April 21, 2007. Likewise, we recount with great humility the exemplary career of this skilled clinician scientist and superb mentor, whose scholarly leadership contributed so substantively to advance the practice of cardiovascular medicine and the academic growth of the University of Alabama School of Medicine (UASOM) in Birmingham. Dr Reeves, a native of Waco, Tex, was born on April 22, 1923, to Thomas Jefferson Reeves and Ruth Scott Reeves, both of pioneer Texas families. After receiving his undergraduate education at Baylor University in Waco, he was inducted into the US Naval Reserve. He would return to active duty in the US Naval Reserve, serving as a medical officer and flight surgeon after his graduation from Baylor College of Medicine in 1946 and an internship at Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas. He completed his residency training in internal medicine at Parkland in 1951 and served as a Chief Resident in Medicine under Donald Seldin. Dr Reeves received his fellowship training in cardiology at UASOM under the mentorship of the late Tinsley R. Harrison, who also served as the first Chair of Medicine there and had an indelible impact on Dr Reeves’ clinical training and practice of medicine that became profound and long lasting. They were coauthors of a groundbreaking text entitled Principles and Problems of Ischemic Heart Disease , which appeared in 1968 (vide infra) when coronary care units were in their infancy and coronary angiography in the setting of an acute myocardial infarction was a rarity. When Dr Harrison suffered an acute myocardial infarction, it was none other than Joe Reeves who served as his mentor’s cardiologist. Dr Reeves was a pioneering faculty member of …