Things have come full-circle for him.
James D. Griffin, MD has a literal lifelong connection with Parkland Memorial Hospital in Texas. He was born there in 1958 in a then-segregated labor and delivery wing. Now, nearly 60 years later, Dr. Griffin will walk the hospital halls as the first Black President of medical staff.
“To educate, discover, and heal is a very powerful goal and dimension of UT Southwestern,” Dr. Griffin said to Center Times Plus, the University of Texas Southwestern publication. “I feel it today as well [as] I did in August 1982, when I stepped through these doors as a medical student.”
This isn’t the first time Dr. Griffin is making history at this hospital. He received his medical degree and completed his residency at UT Southwestern, becoming the medical school’s first Black graduate student to join the faculty. He has spent decades treating patients at UT Southwestern and Parkland Health, Dallas County’s public hospital system.
In addition to being a celebrated anesthesiologist at Parkland, Dr. Griffin is also a Distinguished Teaching Professor, Vice Chair of Anesthesiology and Pain Management at UT Southwestern, and a fellow/member of the Southwestern Academy of Teachers. He has also acted as a well-respected mentor to other doctors and nurses in the hospital, a skill inherited from his father, who was an educator and a pastor; and his mother, who was a librarian.
“Service is in my genes,” Griffin said, according to the outlet. “Teaching is in our blood, which is probably one reason I stayed on the faculty at UT Southwestern. Teaching in medicine is a never-ending quest to construct bridges over chasms of the unknown or misunderstood.”
As president and chief administrative officer of medical staff at Parkland, Dr. Griffin will be working to make a difference in the lives of patients, especially those who’ve been traditionally marginalized by the healthcare system.
“We have a big gap in treatment outcomes of patients who come from under-resourced communities, because of limited access to health care,” said Dr. Griffin. “I believe that when we provide adequate resources, good nutrition, adequate housing, and education, the community thrives, so we have an obligation to make sure we foster a balanced society for all.”
Cover photo: Dr. James D. Griffin Becomes First Black President of Medical Staff At Formerly Segregated Hospital Where He Was Born 60 Years Ago / photo credit: Center Times Plus