In this recent post on the death of Michael DeBakey, I noted that a substantial part of Dr. DeBakey’s legacy was his involvement in the massive importation of talented medical professionals to Houston over the past 60 years. That talent transformed the Texas Medical Center from a sleepy regional medical center into one of the largest and most dynamic medical centers in the world.
Dr. Ralph Feigen, who died at the age of 70 on Thursday,epitomizes the doctors who have been at the center of that transformation.
Drawn to Texas Children’s Hospital and Baylor College of Medicine at the age of 40 in 1977, Dr. Feigen spent the rest of his life in Houston cultivating a culture of excellence in research and patient care that turned Texas Children’s into one of the largest and best pediatric hospitals in the world. Dr. Feigen was an excellent teacher, superb clinician and a highly-regarded researcher, but his personal warmth for his patients is what thousands of parents and their children will remember most about this fine man. A large part of Dr. Feigen’s legacy is that Texas Children’s — despite its enormous growth over the past 30 years — still reflects the comfortable warmth of its long-time leader.
Todd Ackerman, the Chronicle’s fine medical reporter, summarizes Dr. Feigen’s enormous impact well (the NY Times obituary is here):