LaSalle D. Leffall Jr.

LaSalle Doheny Leffall Jr. (May 22, 1930 – May 25, 2019) was an American surgeon, oncologist, and medical educator. He served as the Charles R. Drew Professor of Surgery at Howard University College of Medicine and in leadership positions for several healthcare organizations, including stints as president of the American Cancer Society and the American College of Surgeons.

LaSalle D. Leffall Jr.
Leffall in 1984
Born
LaSalle Doheny Leffall Jr.

(1930-05-22)May 22, 1930
Tallahassee, Florida
DiedMay 25, 2019(2019-05-25) (aged 89)
Washington, DC
EducationHoward University College of Medicine (M.D.)
Medical career
ProfessionMedicine
FieldSurgical oncology
InstitutionsHoward University College of Medicine

Early life

Leffall was born on May 22, 1930, in Tallahassee, Florida. His father had taught agriculture at Florida A&M College and had been a high school principal in Quincy, Florida, where Leffall grew up. Leffall was 15 when he graduated from high school, and he finished an undergraduate degree at Florida A&M in three years. He applied to Meharry Medical College and to the Howard University College of Medicine. When Leffall and a classmate had not heard back from either school, Florida A&M's president, William Gray, spoke to the president at Howard and secured admission for the two students.[1]

Leffall earned a medical degree in 1952, attending Howard at a time when Charles Drew was a faculty member there.[1] In the 1950s, he spent several years in specialty training, having been mentored by Jack E. White, the first black physician to pursue training in surgical oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.[2] After completing training at Memorial Sloan Kettering, Leffall spent a year in Germany with the Army.[3]

Career

In 1962, Leffall joined the Howard faculty. By 1970, he was a full professor and chairman of Howard's surgery department. He earned his named professorship in 1992, the first such endowed chair in Howard's surgery department. Leffall performed surgery until the mid-2000s. Though he stopped actively practicing medicine in 2013, he maintained his teaching and administrative involvement at the medical school.[2] In May 2015, Howard held a special grand rounds session to honor Leffall's service to the school.[4]

Leffall was the first black president of both the American Cancer Society (1978) and the American College of Surgeons (1995).[2] He served as chairman of the board of directors for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation from 2002 to 2007 and for a few months in 2011 and 2012, when he resigned because of increasing responsibilities as provost at Howard.[5] He was on the board of directors of Mutual of America.[6]

He received honorary degrees from Georgetown University, Amherst College and several other colleges.[7] He received a Candace Award for Science from the National Coalition of 100 Black Women in 1983.[8]

Personal life and death

Leffall met his wife, the former Ruth McWilliams, when he was a senior at Howard.[3] Leffall and his wife had one son, LaSalle Leffall III, a Harvard-educated businessman. Leffall was close friends with jazz musician Cannonball Adderley.[7]

Lefall died on the evening of May 25, 2019 in Washington, DC. He is survived by wife Ruth, son Lasalle D. Lefall, III and sister Dolores Lefall.

References
  1. "Digital Manuscripts Program Oral History Project: Interview with Dr. LaSalle D. Leffall, Jr" (PDF). National Library of Medicine. Retrieved November 18, 2015.
  2. Cavallo, Jo (September 15, 2013). "Prominent surgeon and teacher LaSalle D. Leffall, Jr, MD, promotes hard work and education to overcome boundaries". The ASCO Post. Retrieved November 17, 2015.
  3. Trescott, Jacqueline (February 17, 1979). "The special spirit of the surgeon: Howard's Dr. LaSalle Leffall". The Washington Post. Retrieved November 18, 2015.
  4. Harris, Hamil (May 19, 2015). "Howard's legendary LaSalle Leffall still going strong at 85". The Washington Post. Retrieved November 17, 2015.
  5. Sun, Lena; Kliff, Sarah (March 22, 2012). "Komen board chairman steps down, citing Howard University duties". The Washington Post. Retrieved November 17, 2015.
  6. "Mutual of America Board of Directors". Mutual of America. Retrieved November 18, 2015.
  7. "LaSalle D. Leffall, Jr., M.D., F.A.C.S." Howard University. Retrieved 24 February 2015.
  8. "CANDACE AWARD RECIPIENTS 1982–1990, Page 2". National Coalition of 100 Black Women. Archived from the original on March 14, 2003.
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