archives collection - American Academy of Family Physicians ...

Stephens, G. Gayle, M.D. (1928- )
1956-2010
11 boxes – See also: Audio-Visual Collection (Audiotapes); Library Collection; Museum
Collection; Oversized Collection; and Photograph Collection
G. Gayle Stephens, M.D. was born in Pike County, Missouri in 1928. In 1947, he entered the
University of Missouri School of Medicine, graduating from that program with a B.S. in Medicine in
1950, and later attended Northwestern University in Chicago, where he received an M.D. degree with
distinction in 1952. After serving his internship at Wesley Hospital in Wichita followed by a twoyear
stint in the Army Medical Corps, Dr. Stephens was a practicing family physician in private
practice in Wichita from 1955 to 1967. In 1967, he founded the Family Practice Residency Program
based at Wesley Hospital in Wichita, where he served as founding Director of the program until
1972. This program became one of the first 15 Family Practice residency programs in the nation to
be approved by the Residency Review Committee in December 1968 under the new “Essentials for
Approved Residencies in Family Practice.”
In 1972, Dr. Stephens became the first professor of Family Practice at the University of Kansas
School of Medicine’s Wichita Branch. The following year, he was named the founding Dean of the
School of Primary Medical Care at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, Alabama, and from
1973 to 1975, he served as the 3 rd President of the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine (STFM).
In 1977, he accepted the position of Professor and Chair of the Department of Family Practice at
the University of Alabama in Birmingham, where he served until his retirement in 1988. Presently,
he holds the appointment of Professor Emeritus of Family Medicine at the University of Alabama in
Birmingham.
A prolific writer and recognized scholar in the specialty, Dr. Stephens’ 1982 book The Intellectual
Basis of Family Medicine has been hailed by many as one of the most influential works on Family
Medicine ever written.
Throughout his career, Dr. Stephens has served on numerous state and national committees dealing
with Family Medicine education, and has received a variety of prestigious awards for his work,
including the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) Thomas W. Johnson Award for
Outstanding Contributions to Family Practice in 1975; the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine
(STFM) PATIENT CARE Gavel for outstanding contributions in the field of Family Medicine, as
well as for distinguished service to STFM in 1976; the STFM Certificate of Excellence in 1980; the
Max Cheplove Award from the Erie County Chapter of the New York Academy of Family
Physicians in 1984; and the AAFP John G. Walsh Award for dedicated and effective leadership in
furthering the development of Family Medicine in 1996. In 2006, Dr. Stephens was elected to the
National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine, and several awards have also been named in his
honor at the University of Alabama: The G. Gayle Stephens Award in Family Medicine at UA,
Birmingham, and The G. Gayle Stephens Award for Academic Excellence in Family Medicine at
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