George Walter McCoy

George Walter McCoy dedicated his career to public health specializing in leprosy. In 1930 Delta Omega inducted McCoy into the honorary society as a honorary member.

McCoy, a native of Pennsylvania, began his medical career as a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania Medical School in 1898. He accepted a position with the Marine Hospital Service and was eventually assigned to the U.S. Plague Laboratory in San Francisco. While in San Francisco, McCoy developed an interest in leprosy. Eventually, his interests lead him to Hawaii where he became the director of the U.S. Leprosarium at Kalawao, Molokai. His eventful career in the Marine Hospital Service prepared him for his appointment in 1915 to director of the Hygienic Laboratory (later renamed the National Institute of Health). McCoy served as Director until 1937 and worked on influenza, small pox, tularemia, as well as many other diseases.

After retiring from public service in 1938, McCoy continued to conduct studies of leprosy. In 1938, he joined the department of preventive medicine and public health at Louisiana State University School of Medicine at New Orleans.

In 1931 McCoy was honored with the Sedgwick Memorial Medal of the American Public Health Association. He died in 1952 in Washington, D.C.