Eugene Meyer III Professorship in Psychiatry and Medicine

EUGENE MEYER III, Med 1941, served on the Hopkins faculty in psychiatry and medicine for nearly four decades, until his death in 1982. The dual focus of this professorship reflects his training and accomplishments in both fields. Dr. Meyer was an early leader of the Hopkins Psychiatric Liaison Service, which provides psychiatric consultation for medical and surgical patients. This service was one of the first of its kind and has trained many prominent consultation psychiatrists. Known for his fine bedside manner and his ability to make difficult diagnoses, Dr. Meyer had a keen interest in the psychiatric aspects of medicine and surgery, a topic on which he published extensively. He also collaborated with Dr. Milton Edgerton on studies of plastic surgery patients, and established free walk-in clinics to provide psychiatric care for inner-city residents in Baltimore. His study on the efficacy of short-term therapy in this setting found positive results, and similar programs have been established in other cities. Dr. Meyer’s sister was the late Katharine Graham, publisher of the Washington Post, who funded a Hopkins professorship in ophthalmology.

His wife, MARY BRADLEY MEYER, SPH 1961, was an associate professor of epidemiology at the School of Public Health and was noted for her research on the effects of smoking and X-rays on maternal health. She died in 1981. During their lives, Dr. and Mrs. Meyer supported the university and hospital, and Dr. Meyer left a bequest both for this professorship and for an endowment fund for the Department of Neuroscience.