Wake Forest School of Medicine - Gray Matter Yearbook (Winston Salem, NC)

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3 E ACADEMICS

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ff-H' N I

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'xi l 9 A L l,:. W h 1,-if up I ' I-Q' Hg ,X l'I'l'g , tGf!n . 'lf J A-.L The Bowman Gray School of Medicine and the North Carolina Baptist Hospital at the time of Dr Carpenters retirement COY CARPENTER, M.D. Dr. Coy Carpenter is not very well known to the Class of 1968. Nevertheless. without him there might not be a Bowman Gray School of Medicine today. lt is said that he took a shoe string and made a shoe. It is only fitting at his retirement to remember how Dr. Carpenter's school was founded. In 1939 the Bowman Gray Foundation offered its entire resources to the University of North Carolina Medical School if it would move from Chapel Hill to Winston-Salem and change from a two year to a four year program. At that time the American Medical Association was strongly opposed to two year me- dical schools and had recommended that all either be closed or be expanded to four year programs. The cost of such a transition was estimated to be S10 OOO OOO The University of North Carolina faced with American Medical Association pressure either to close or to expand nevertheless decided to remain a two year school rather than change location Dr Carpenter who had been dean of the Wake Forest Medical School since 1936 saw the possibilities and proposed to the Bowman Gray Foundation that they make their generous offer to his school The foun dation did and within one day the offer was accepted the medical school was moved to Winston Salem with the promise of becoming a four year school It seemed that this offer had solved the schools greatest problem Unfortunately this optimism was uniustified Dr Carpenter had assumed that the Foundation had assets of a minimum of S5 OOO OOO when in fact there was little more than one tenth that amount When this fact became public Dr Carpenter received acid criticism both from faculty members and national educational figures all charg ing him with gross misrepresentation Many scars still remain from the bitter feelings engendered at that large sums of money using his R J Reynolds Tobacco stock as collateral ln addition he elicited generous and substantial help from the Reynolds and Gray families and despite some Baptist objections obtained much help from the federal government then eager to produce more physicians during the years of World War ll His recruitment of nationally recognized faculty members further strengthened the school The next great expansion program is now in pro gress Although Dr Carpenter had planned to retire in 1970 he stepped aside in 1967 in order that Dr Manson Meads could direct the program from its in ception The story of the Bowman Gray School of Medicine is the story of Dr Coy Carpenter As the late Dr Fred Hares of Duke University said when he received the first honorary degree given by the Bowman Gray School of Medicine ln 1941 I knew well that it couldn t be done In 1951 now that it has been done l dont believe it X . . A - X-Z?.,:j I l ' ' ' . . . 1 ,ij il i - WR X fu.-'lui . i I . . V ' I - rg. -.. .- f . . . . . - -- asf'-'rl . 1 .- - s. f-H H' ffssl: ' - - - - 7 5.19 ,S 'f -Y . -- ,-gg., 1 . . . . . . 11luEQ:n...4- 1, . --H 1 -F .u-l . . . Q 517 ffefkliige- ' l.'::gg li wg A- - ,521 fy-'li . ' .i1.'?,1f LLg 'KU ,, 57 A time. Fortunately, Dr. Carpenter was able to borrow T Tqfg?.i f , - ' ' . . . 4ff,w,,.l y gm 1- gurl K N, A . !1 um. .. l . . . . A 'Q . . . '