The Pathology Department was established with the appointment of Dr. Albert Goodin Smith as Professor and Head of the Department. Dr. Smith served as assistant and associate professor at Duke University and as professor and deputy chairman of the Department of Pathology at the University of Tennessee School of Medicine.

Dr. Joseph Alexander Little was appointed Professor and Head of Pediatrics Department in January 1970. Dr. Little previously served in various capacities at the University of Cincinnati School of Medicine, the University of Louisville School of Medicine, the Kentucky State Department of Health, Kentucky Crippled Children’s Commission and the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.

February 1970 saw the appointment of Dr. Marion D. Hargrove, Jr. as Professor and Head of the Division of Medicine. Hargrove, a Shreveport native, had been on the full-time faculty of the LSU School of Medicine in Shreveport since April 1968.

Shreveport native, Dr. Louis A. Breffeilh, was named as the Head of the Department of Ophthalmology and as Chief of the Ophthalmology Service at Confederate Memorial Medical Center. In addition to his private practice, Dr. Breffeilh held a clinical teaching position with the LSU Postgraduate Medical School at Confederate Memorial Medical Center. In 1967, the postgraduate faculty became the nucleus of the clinical faculty of the LSU School of Medicine in Shreveport.

Dr. Jack Wendell Pou, newly appointed Head of the Department of Otolaryngology, also served as Chief of the Otolaryngology Service at Confederate Memorial Medical Center (CMMC). As with many of his local colleagues, Dr. Pou held a clinical teaching position with the LSU Postgraduate Medical School at CMMC.

In addition to his duties as Chief of the Urology Service at CMMC, Dr. Burdett E. Trichel was named Head of the Department of Urology. Trichel was also a member of the LSU Postgraduate Medical School in Shreveport.

Dr. Douglas W. McKay was appointed Professor and Head of the Department of Orthopedics in early 1970. Dr. McKay was the chief surgeon at the Shrine Hospital for Crippled Children (now known as the Shriner’s Hospital for Children – Shreveport) and director of the orthopedic residency program at CMMC.

Click here for a comprehensive list of department heads.

On August 18, 1970, it was announced that the Shreveport Medical School would receive the $20,288,242 in federal funding that was approved for construction  in late 1969. When added to the $10,211,758 received from state bond money, the school now had the $30.5 million necessary for the initial construction project.

Groundbreaking ceremonies marked the start of construction for the LSU School of Medicine in Shreveport, located on the grounds of the CMMC between the hospital and the nursing student residence. Dean Edgar Hull turned the first spadeful of earth before a crowd of 500 onlookers. In his comments (which can be heard in this video clip), LSU Medical Center Chancellor William Stewart, said, “This marks five years of work, led and brought to fruition by Dr. Hull. This is a moment of joy.” Plans called for Governor John McKeithen and LSU President John A. Hunter to take part in the ceremony, but the landfall of Hurricane Edith on the same day prevented their attendance.    

The first spadeful of earth was placed in a glass vial with the accompanying inscription, “The beginning. This Caddo Parish dirt is a portion of the first shovelful of earth removed from the construction site of the LSU Medical School in Shreveport, 4 p.m., Sept.16, 1971.” The shovel, file and vial of dirt are housed in the LSU Medical Library Archives. 

Governor Edwin Edwards made extensive changes to the Confederate Memorial Medical Center Board of Directors. Board President T.B. Lanford, who had served since 1956, was replaced by insurance executive Harold Quinn of Shreveport. The newly appointed Board included Mr. Jack Clayton, Rev. Abraham E. Davis, Mr. Ralph R. Hall, Dr. W. J. Hill, Dr. Jackie D. Huckabay, Mr. Andre Joyce, Dr. Bernard Kalstone, Mr. Wilbur Purvis, Dr. James Dudley Talbot, Dr. James W. Tucker, and Mrs. Anna Laura Wilder. Mrs. James B. Haskin was later appointed as the Board’s twelfth member. Thus constituted the Board included three African American men and two women, one being African American.

The Board’s first order of business was to decide on the fate of longtime hospital director, Edgar Galloway. Sensing a lack of support from the Board, in an August 24th letter to Harold Quinn, Galloway stated “You may consider this [letter] as my resignation at a time suitable to you should you or your Board wish to appoint someone else. Should you wish me to continue, I will be happy to do so, and assure you of my full cooperation and very best efforts.”  The Board did not accept Dr. Galloway’s letter of resignation and he remained Hospital Director until his resignation two months later. See entry for October 5, 1972 for additional details.

The Regional Center for Communications Disorders was established on June 14, 1973 for the evaluation and therapeutic treatment of children and adults with hearing or speech disorders. It was also used as a training facility for resident doctors and college students and served as a research facility. The $250,000 required for the construction, equipment and initial operation was provided by the Junior League; the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare through the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation; the State Department of Education; the Shreveport-Bossier Foundation and the Caddo Foundation for Exceptional Children. The Center, operated by the Caddo Foundation, was housed in a renovated apartment at the Linwood Apartment Complex. On November 28, 1973, the Center was renamed the Mollie E. Webb Speech and Hearing Center in honor of the woman “who has been a moving force in any and all matters of the hard of hearing for many years.”

After a short 16-month tenure, Dr. Rodric Yeager resigned as the Director of the Confederate Memorial Medical Center. Prompted by his desire to return to the practice of thoracic and cardiovascular surgery, Yeager remained at CMMC as the Director of Planning.

In an effort to study the past, evaluate the present and plan for the future of the School of Medicine in Shreveport, a faculty conference, or retreat, was held September 6-7, 1974 at the Sheraton-Bossier Inn. To answer the question “Where Are We?,” the Task Force for Retreat Planning supervised the compilation of ten position papers that provided information on the following topics: early development of the medical school, a chronology from 1966-1970, academic personnel, hospital interface, admissions, curriculum, professional practice, graduate program, research development, and finance.

The long-awaited day had finally arrived. Four years, one month and eleven days - or 1,493 days to be exact - after the September 16, 1971 groundbreaking, the $30.8 million complex that would house the LSU School of Medicine in Shreveport was complete. 1500 invitations were extended to faculty, staff and students; state and local political figures; board members; local physicians and hospital directors; community leaders and numerous other VIPs. Representatives of all local media outlets were in attendance.

Nearly 1,000 people attended the Dedication Ceremony with Dean Ike Muslow presiding. Muslow thanked all who had a part in the planning, development and design of the new facility and gave special recognition to Dr. George McNeely for his exceptional efforts. Dr. Edgar Hull, Dean Emeritus, received a standing ovation as he took the podium, saying that “…today marks a milestone in the history of this great state and city.”

John C. McDonald was named professor and head of the Department of Surgery and began his duties on June 1, 1977. Dr. McDonald had most recently served as professor of surgery at the Tulane University Medical School, where he also earned his medical degree in 1955. McDonald was familiar with Shreveport, having completed his internship at the Confederate Memorial Medical Center in 1956.

While still at Tulane, Dr. McDonald served as a consultant to the LSU Medical Center in Shreveport during the development of their kidney transplant program, which led to their first kidney transplant in April 1976. When he joined the Shreveport faculty as Head of the Surgery Department, McDonald also served as the organizing chief of the institution’s organ transplant program, Director of the Histocompatibility Testing Laboratory, and director of the Medical Center’s Louisiana Organ Sharing Program. When McDonald came to the Shreveport medical school, he brought along a staff of four specialists who would contribute significantly to the Department of Surgery and to the nascent transplantation program. They were Dr. William M. Blackshear, Jr.; Dr. I. William Browder; Dr. Michael S. Rohr; and laboratory supervisor, Louise M. Jacobbi.