Thomas T Mackie

Thomas T. Mackie (1895-1955) was a distinguished research/public health physician in the US Army during World War II, known for his contributions to tropical medicine. He co-founded the Walter Reed Tropical Medicine Course at the US Army Medical School in 1941 and co-authored the influential *Manual of Tropical Medicine*, which became a key text in the field. Mackie earned his MD from Columbia University in 1924 after graduating from Harvard in 1918. He furthered his education with a postgraduate certificate in tropical medicine at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, where he won the prestigious Duncan Medal in 1931. His early career included practicing medicine in New York City and teaching at Columbia University. In 1940, Mackie became a founding director of the American Foundation for Tropical Medicine and established a base in Puerto Rico. During WWII, he served as a lieutenant colonel in the Army Medical Corps, working on tropical medicine research and later in Southeast Asia. He was discharged as a colonel and received the Typhus Commission Medal. After the war, Mackie joined Bowman Gray School of Medicine as a professor of preventive medicine, where he worked with his second wife Janet Welch, an expert in tropical medicine. Together, they persuaded the school to establish the Institute of Tropical Medicine in the Dominican Republic, supported by the Woolworth family. Mackie's career at Bowman Gray was marked by conflicts, leading him to leave in 1951. He then focused on managing the institute he helped create. His personal ...