A pioneer and visionary leader in the field of Emergency Medicine, an exemplary physician, researcher, teacher, and mentor, Dr. E. Jackson Allison, Jr. has contributed immeasurably to the store of medical knowledge, to the delivery of high quality care, and to the ethos of selfless service.
Dr. Allison was the founding chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine in what is now the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University. At the time, it was only the fourth such department in the country.
Born in Baltimore, Dr. Allison received his undergraduate degree, his master’s degree in public health, and his medical degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Following his residency at the Medical University of South Carolina and a fellowship at Princeton University, he joined the faculty of the Medical University of South Carolina and served as medical director of two regional emergency medical services.
In 1980, just two years after completing his residency, he was chosen to create and chair the Department of Emergency Medicine at East Carolina and to serve as chief of service of the Emergency Department at Pitt County Memorial Hospital.
“He had the charisma, charm, and salesmanship to recruit a dedicated faculty from the small emerging corps of academic emergency physicians,” says William J. Meggs, MD, PhD, professor and chief of the Division of Toxicology of the Department of Emergency Medicine at East Carolina. “He has played a critical role in the emergence of emergency medicine as a recognized medical specialty.”
When Dr. Allison was named Sterling Distinguished Professor and chair of Emergency Medicine at East Carolina in 1991, he assumed only the second endowed chair of emergency medicine in the world.
“Through his passion and commitment, the principle of doing what’s in the best interest of the patient permeated everything…and led to extraordinary patient care and the development of hundreds of excellent emergency physicians,” says Richard C. Hunt, MD, FACEP, director of the Division of Injury Response of the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control and Clinical Professor of Emergency Medicine at Emory University.
While at East Carolina, Dr. Allison served as founding president of the Association of Academic Chairs of Emergency Medicine, president of the American College of Emergency Physicians, and chairman of the board of the Emergency Medical Foundation, which he helped establish to fund research in emergency medicine.
“Under his leadership, the relatively young discipline of emergency medicine grew much further and faster than expected, achieving substantial recognition within the house of medicine,” according to Dr. Hunt.
Dr. Allison was a founder and the first president of the International Association of Emergency Medicine, an organization whose growth Dr. Hunt attributes to “his vision of a world where all victims of emergencies are cared for by trained emergency physicians.”
After leaving East Carolina in 1996, Dr. Allison held high-level academic and administrative positions at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Upstate Medical University of the State University of New York, and Veterans Affairs Medical Centers in Syracuse, New York, and Asheville, North Carolina. Since 2006 he has been a professor in the Department of Emergency Medical Care of the College of Health & Human Sciences at Western Carolina University.
Dr. Allison has received numerous awards including the John G. Wiegenstein Leadership Award, the highest honor bestowed by the American College of Emergency Physicians.
Dr. Allison worked as a Peace Corps volunteer for three years after receiving his undergraduate degree. While serving in Malawi, he wrote and recorded songs to teach people about AIDS and how to prevent its transmission. One of his songs went to the top of the charts in Malawi and remained there for more than three years.
Dr. Allison returned to Malawi in 1994 under the auspices of Project HOPE and Peace Corps/Malawi to write and record an album of songs about AIDS. Album sales brought in more than $30,000, all of which was used to feed Malawian children who had been orphaned because of AIDS. In 2005, at the invitation of the U.S. State Department, Dr. Allison toured Malawi to speak and sing about AIDS education and prevention.
“His life and career have been exemplary in every regard,” says Paul R. G. Cunningham, MD, dean of the Brody School of Medicine and associate vice chancellor for Medical Affairs at East Carolina.
In recognition of his pioneering leadership in the field of emergency medicine and his dedication to excellence as a clinician, investigator, educator, and humanitarian, we are proud to present the Distinguished Medical Alumni Award to Dr. E. Jackson Allison, Jr.
