JIMMIE HAROLD CHEEK, MD: a conversation with the editor

Jimmie Harold Cheek, MD, and William C. Roberts, MD

From the Department of Surgery (Cheek) and the Baylor Heart and Vascular Hospital (Roberts), Baylor University Medical Center, Dallas, Texas.

Corresponding author: J. Harold Cheek, MD, 304 Rosewood Drive, Lindale, Texas 75771.

Dr. Harold Cheek was born in Eldorado, Oklahoma, in 1917. The depression in the 1930s made life difficult for him and his family, but they survived. Through encouragement, particularly from his mother, he entered Montezuma Baptist College in New Mexico in 1934 and after a year there transferred to Texas Technological College in Lubbock, graduating in 1941. He then came to Baylor University College of Medicine in Dallas, finishing his last 2 years of medical school at the Southwestern Medical School in December 1944. His postgraduate training in general surgery was entirely at Baylor Hospital. It was interrupted by service in the army from 1946 to 1948. In 1951 he opened his private practice, using primarily Baylor Hospital, and subsequently limited his practice to the care of patients with breast conditions. He practiced until 1996.

Dr. Cheek has been a major figure at Baylor University Medical Center (BUMC) for 51 years, advising and befriending the Baylor administration. He was president of the BUMC medical staff in 1979, president of the Dallas County unit of the American Cancer Society in 1969-1970, and president of the Texas Division of the American Cancer Society in 1977-1978, and he has been active on the teaching staffs of both BUMC and Parkland Memorial Hospital since 1952. A clinical professor of surgery at The University of Texas Southwestern Medical School since 1974, he has published 23 articles in peer-reviewed medical journals; since 1956 they have focused entirely on diseases of the breast. For his contributions he received the Sword of Hope Award from the American Cancer Society in 1970, the Certificate of Merit Award from the American Cancer Society in 1972, the Taittinger Award of Distinction from the Susan G. Komen Foundation in 1985, and the Wings of Eagles award from Baylor Health Care System Foundation in 1999. He and his wife of over 50 years have 4 daughters. Dr. Cheek is a devoted physician, a friend and wise counselor to many, and a warm and wonderful guy. (BUMC Proceedings 2002;15:154-170)

Dr. Harold Cheek was born in Eldorado, Oklahoma, in 1917. The depression in the 1930s made life difficult for him and his family, but they survived. Through encouragement, particularly from his mother, he entered Montezuma Baptist College in New Mexico in 1934 and after a year there transferred to Texas Technological College in Lubbock, graduating in 1941. He then came to Baylor University College of Medicine in Dallas, finishing his last 2 years of medical school at the Southwestern Medical School in December 1944. His postgraduate training in general surgery was entirely at Baylor Hospital. It was interrupted by service in the army from 1946 to 1948. In 1951 he opened his private practice, using primarily Baylor Hospital, and subsequently limited his practice to the care of patients with breast conditions. He practiced until 1996.

Dr. Cheek has been a major figure at Baylor University Medical Center (BUMC) for 51 years, advising and befriending the Baylor administration. He was president of the BUMC medical staff in 1979, president of the Dallas County unit of the American Cancer Society in 1969-1970, and president of the Texas Division of the American Cancer Society in 1977-1978, and he has been active on the teaching staffs of both BUMC and Parkland Memorial Hospital since 1952. A clinical professor of surgery at The University of Texas Southwestern Medical School since 1974, he has published 23 articles in peer-reviewed medical journals; since 1956 they have focused entirely on diseases of the breast. For his contributions he received the Sword of Hope Award from the American Cancer Society in 1970, the Certificate of Merit Award from the American Cancer Society in 1972, the Taittinger Award of Distinction from the Susan G. Komen Foundation in 1985, and the Wings of Eagles award from Baylor Health Care System Foundation in 1999. He and his wife of over 50 years have 4 daughters. Dr. Cheek is a devoted physician, a friend and wise counselor to many, and a warm and wonderful guy. (BUMC Proceedings 2002;15:154-170)