Edgar Hull
Encyclopedia
Edgar Hull, Jr. was a physician
from Louisiana
and in 1931 a founding faculty member of the Louisiana State University Medical Center
in New Orleans
. In 1966, he became the first Dean of the Louisiana State University School of Medicine at Shreveport (now the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center Shreveport
). After his retirement, Hull contradicted the historian
T. Harry Williams
' account of the assassination
and death of Governor and U.S. Senator Huey Pierce Long, Jr.
in Jackson County
in southern Mississippi
, the son of Edgar Hull, Sr., and the former Alice Christine Rourke. He graduated from Pascagoula High School and studied pre-medicine from 1920–1921 and 1922-1923 at Louisiana State University
in Baton Rouge
. In between those years, he was a temporary schoolteacher at Bayou Cassotte in Jackson County, Mississippi. From 1923-1927, Hull attended the Tulane University School of Medicine
in New Orleans
, from which he received his medical credentials. Hull then interned at the 108-bed Highland Sanitarium in Shreveport
, the seat of Caddo Parish
in northwestern Louisiana. He stayed there for only six months before launching a private practice from 1929 to 1931 in Pleasant Hill
in DeSoto Parish.
In 1930, Hull married the former Louise Parham (died 1937) of Shreveport in Natchitoches
, Louisiana.
and Guatemala
. From 1950-1951, he was a Fulbright Professor
to the University of Bologna
in Bologna, Italy
. In 1958, he was a consultant to Taiwan
. He also performed consulting work in New Orleans at Touro Infirmary
and Baptist Hospital. Shortly after Louise's death, he married the former Mallory Page Warren (1904–1986). Hull was acting head of the LSU School of Medicine in 1939 and chief administrator from 1940–1954 and 1960-1966. In between from 1954–1960, he was the medical school associate dean.
Hull was a pioneer in electrocardiography and a master of the American College of Physicians, a member of the American College of Gastroenterology, the American College of Cardiology, and the Catholic Physicians Guild. In 1966, he returned after many years to Shreveport to head the new LSU School of Medicine, which opened in 1969 partly in the facility of the former Confederate Memorial Medical Center. He worked to obtain national accreditation for what was only the second public medical school in Louisiana. He was the dean of the Shreveport campus from 1966–1973, when he retired at the age of sixty-nine to Pascagoula.
of the senator but not repeatedly, and he allowed himself to be overruled in the resulting tense situation.
Edgar and Mallory Page Hull had one son, the physician Edgar Warren Hull (born 1940) of Pascagoula. Hull also had a daughter with Louise Parham, Alice Louise (born 1936), who graduated from the LSU School of Medicine in 1962.
Hull is remembered through the Edgar Hull Society, founded in 1999 at the LSU School of Medicine to promote the study of internal medicine. The society was founded by a student, Shamita Shah.
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
from Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
and in 1931 a founding faculty member of the Louisiana State University Medical Center
Medical Center of Louisiana at New Orleans
The Medical Center of Louisiana at New Orleans is the official name of two teaching hospitals in New Orleans, Louisiana. Both hospitals are part of the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in New Orleans, commonly referred to as the LSU Medical School in New Orleans.The two hospitals...
in New Orleans
New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The New Orleans metropolitan area has a population of 1,235,650 as of 2009, the 46th largest in the USA. The New Orleans – Metairie – Bogalusa combined statistical area has a population...
. In 1966, he became the first Dean of the Louisiana State University School of Medicine at Shreveport (now the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center Shreveport
Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center Shreveport
Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center Shreveport is the academic center for medicine and medical research in North Louisiana. It is located in Shreveport and is part of the Louisiana State University System. The medical school opened in 1969. One of its founders was Dr. Joe E...
). After his retirement, Hull contradicted the historian
Historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...
T. Harry Williams
T. Harry Williams
Thomas Harry Williams was an award-winning historian at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge whose career began in 1941 and extended for thirty-eight years until his death at the age of seventy...
' account of the assassination
Assassination
To carry out an assassination is "to murder by a sudden and/or secret attack, often for political reasons." Alternatively, assassination may be defined as "the act of deliberately killing someone, especially a public figure, usually for hire or for political reasons."An assassination may be...
and death of Governor and U.S. Senator Huey Pierce Long, Jr.
Early years
Hull was born in PascagoulaPascagoula, Mississippi
Pascagoula is a city in Jackson County, Mississippi, United States. It is the principal city of the Pascagoula, Mississippi Metropolitan Statistical Area, as a part of the Gulfport–Biloxi–Pascagoula, Mississippi Combined Statistical Area. The population was 26,200 at the 2000 census...
in Jackson County
Jackson County, Mississippi
There were 47,676 households out of which 37.00% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 55.70% were married couples living together, 14.50% had a female householder with no husband present, and 25.10% were non-families. 20.80% of all households were made up of individuals and 7.10% had...
in southern Mississippi
Mississippi
Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...
, the son of Edgar Hull, Sr., and the former Alice Christine Rourke. He graduated from Pascagoula High School and studied pre-medicine from 1920–1921 and 1922-1923 at Louisiana State University
Louisiana State University
Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, most often referred to as Louisiana State University, or LSU, is a public coeducational university located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The University was founded in 1853 in what is now known as Pineville, Louisiana, under the name...
in Baton Rouge
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Baton Rouge is the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is located in East Baton Rouge Parish and is the second-largest city in the state.Baton Rouge is a major industrial, petrochemical, medical, and research center of the American South...
. In between those years, he was a temporary schoolteacher at Bayou Cassotte in Jackson County, Mississippi. From 1923-1927, Hull attended the Tulane University School of Medicine
Tulane University School of Medicine
The Tulane University School of Medicine is located in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA and is a part of Tulane University. The school is located in the Medical District of the New Orleans Central Business District.-History:...
in New Orleans
New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The New Orleans metropolitan area has a population of 1,235,650 as of 2009, the 46th largest in the USA. The New Orleans – Metairie – Bogalusa combined statistical area has a population...
, from which he received his medical credentials. Hull then interned at the 108-bed Highland Sanitarium in Shreveport
Shreveport, Louisiana
Shreveport is the third largest city in Louisiana. It is the principal city of the fourth largest metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana and is the 109th-largest city in the United States....
, the seat of Caddo Parish
Caddo Parish, Louisiana
Caddo Parish is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The parish seat is Shreveport; as of 2000, the population was 252,161...
in northwestern Louisiana. He stayed there for only six months before launching a private practice from 1929 to 1931 in Pleasant Hill
Pleasant Hill, Louisiana
Pleasant Hill is a village in Sabine Parish in western Louisiana, in the United States. As of the 2000 census, the village population was 786. It is best known as the site of The Battle of Pleasant Hill, fought in April 1864.- History :...
in DeSoto Parish.
In 1930, Hull married the former Louise Parham (died 1937) of Shreveport in Natchitoches
Natchitoches, Louisiana
Natchitoches is a city in and the parish seat of Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana, United States. Established in 1714 by Louis Juchereau de St. Denis as part of French Louisiana, the community was named after the Natchitoches Indian tribe. The City of Natchitoches was first incorporated on February...
, Louisiana.
Medical school pioneer
On October 7, 1931, he returned to New Orleans and became one of the founding staff and faculty at the new LSU Medical Center, affiliated with Charity Hospital. In 1944, Hull was a Markle Fellow to Costa RicaCosta Rica
Costa Rica , officially the Republic of Costa Rica is a multilingual, multiethnic and multicultural country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Caribbean Sea to the east....
and Guatemala
Guatemala
Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...
. From 1950-1951, he was a Fulbright Professor
Fulbright Program
The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright-Hays Program, is a program of competitive, merit-based grants for international educational exchange for students, scholars, teachers, professionals, scientists and artists, founded by United States Senator J. William Fulbright in 1946. Under the...
to the University of Bologna
University of Bologna
The Alma Mater Studiorum - University of Bologna is the oldest continually operating university in the world, the word 'universitas' being first used by this institution at its foundation. The true date of its founding is uncertain, but believed by most accounts to have been 1088...
in Bologna, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
. In 1958, he was a consultant to Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
. He also performed consulting work in New Orleans at Touro Infirmary
Touro Infirmary
Touro Infirmary is a non-profit hospital in New Orleans, Louisiana.- Organization. :Touro Infirmary is affiliated with the Louisiana State University Health Science Center and Tulane University School of Medicine....
and Baptist Hospital. Shortly after Louise's death, he married the former Mallory Page Warren (1904–1986). Hull was acting head of the LSU School of Medicine in 1939 and chief administrator from 1940–1954 and 1960-1966. In between from 1954–1960, he was the medical school associate dean.
Hull was a pioneer in electrocardiography and a master of the American College of Physicians, a member of the American College of Gastroenterology, the American College of Cardiology, and the Catholic Physicians Guild. In 1966, he returned after many years to Shreveport to head the new LSU School of Medicine, which opened in 1969 partly in the facility of the former Confederate Memorial Medical Center. He worked to obtain national accreditation for what was only the second public medical school in Louisiana. He was the dean of the Shreveport campus from 1966–1973, when he retired at the age of sixty-nine to Pascagoula.
Recalling Huey Pierce Long, Jr.
Hull reserved his comments on Huey Long's demise until after 1981, when the LSU Medical Center celebrated its 50th anniversary. His public recollections are incorporated in his 1983 memoirs entitled This I Remember: An Informal History of the Louisiana State University Medical Center in New Orleans. Unlike the LSU historian Williams, Hull claimed that after the shooting Long probably could not have been saved by any medical treatment. Moreover, Hull denied that Long died from medical or surgical incompetence. Hull also criticized his own conduct in the 1935 events surrounding Long's passing at the age of forty-two. Hull had called for an autopsyAutopsy
An autopsy—also known as a post-mortem examination, necropsy , autopsia cadaverum, or obduction—is a highly specialized surgical procedure that consists of a thorough examination of a corpse to determine the cause and manner of death and to evaluate any disease or injury that may be present...
of the senator but not repeatedly, and he allowed himself to be overruled in the resulting tense situation.
Death and legacy
Hull died at the age of eighty in Pascagoula and is interred there at Greenwood Cemetery.Edgar and Mallory Page Hull had one son, the physician Edgar Warren Hull (born 1940) of Pascagoula. Hull also had a daughter with Louise Parham, Alice Louise (born 1936), who graduated from the LSU School of Medicine in 1962.
Hull is remembered through the Edgar Hull Society, founded in 1999 at the LSU School of Medicine to promote the study of internal medicine. The society was founded by a student, Shamita Shah.