The Thomas Harrison Hunter papers

Thomas Harrison Hunter was born in Chicago on October 12, 1913. Despite a childhood bout with polio that left him on crutches from the age of seven, Hunter was a coxswain on the crew teams at both Harvard and Cambridge, where he was a Henry Fellow at Trinity Hall. He completed his medical education at Harvard Medical School.

During his internship and residency training at Columbia University Presbyterian Hospital in New York, Hunter began the clinical research that would lead to a dual antibiotic treatment for bacterial endocarditis, an infection of the heart's lining and valves that had previously been uniformly fatal.

Hunter was Dean of the University of Virginia School of Medicine from 1953 to 1965, Chancellor for Medical Affairs from 1965 to 1970, and Vice President for Medical Affairs from 1970 to 1971. In 1970 he received the Thomas Jefferson Award, the highest honor bestowed by the University of Virginia. In 1973 he received the Raven Award for excellence in service and contribution to the University. In 1971 Hunter was named Owen R. Cheatham Professor of Science, co-founding the model Program in Human Biology and Society with Joseph Fletcher. In addition he served as President of the American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC) and Treasurer of the Pan American Federation of Associations of Medical Schools (PAFAMS), of which he was a founder.

Thomas H. Hunter was deeply interested in international medicine, arguing that health and medicine provide a uniquely powerful bridge to international understanding. In his presidential address to the AAMC in 1960, Hunter called the attention of the United States medical community to its opportunities and responsibilities in other countries. Accompanied by his wife, Anne Fulcher Hunter and their five children, Hunter spent a year teaching in Cali, Colombia as a representative of the Rockefeller Foundation. He also worked and taught in Egypt, Venezuela, Tunisia, Kenya, Cameroon, Chile, and Brazil. The Thomas H. Hunter Professorship of International Medicine was established in 1989 by the University of Virginia Medical School.

Throughout his career, Thomas H. Hunter served in an advisory capacity to numerous medical schools in the United States and was a pioneer in the field of bioethics. His life was characterized by the promulgation of scientific excellence combined with human compassion. Thomas H. Hunter died on October 23, 1997 at his home in Cismont, Virginia.