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By Jill Elish
February 2002
FSU AWARDS HONORARY DEGREE TO PEDIATRICIAN CHARLOTTE MAGUIRE
TALLAHASSEE, Fla.-Dr. Charlotte Edwards Maguire, a distinguished
pediatrician and supporter of the Florida State University College
of Medicine, will be awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters
degree in a ceremony at 5 p.m. Feb. 14 in the College of Medicine
Administration Building.
"Dr. Maguire is a pioneer for women in medical sciences and an
inspiration for future doctors," said FSU President Talbot "Sandy"
D'Alemberte. "She has dedicated her career to caring for those who
needed it most - minorities, disabled children and the indigent -
and has helped FSU establish a medical school where that philosophy
will flourish."
In 1999, Maguire donated $1 million to FSU's then Program in Medical
Sciences and later the College of Medicine to create the Charlotte
Edwards Maguire College of Medicine Dean's Chair and to endow
student scholarships. The next year she was an outspoken advocate
for the creation of the College of Medicine, and she has since
donated an additional $1 million to create an eminent scholar chair
in geriatrics. The gift will allow the FSU College of Medicine to
recruit an eminent scholar in geriatrics who can focus attention on
the special needs of an aging population.
"Dr. Maguire has been actively involved with our students, and these
gifts are helping to prepare the next generation of Florida
physicians," said Dr. Joseph E. Scherger, dean of the College of
Medicine. "Her vision and her desire to make a difference in the
lives of future doctors and patients truly exemplify her ideals."
Now a Tallahassee resident, Maguire was born in 1918 and grew up in
Orlando. She earned her bachelor's degree from Memphis Teachers
College in 1940
and her medical degree in 1944 from the University of Arkansas,
where she was the only woman in her class. The opening of her
pediatric practice in Orlando after her graduation was greeted with
the newspaper headline "Orlando's first girl doctor returns." She
took a special interest in children with disabilities, and from the
beginning of her practice, she provided free services to those in
need.
In 1949, she was appointed director of the Orlando Child Health
Clinic. From 1947 to 1956, she served as chief of staff for the
Central Florida Division of Children's Home Society of Florida and
became the first woman president of the Florida Pediatric Society in
1952. She served as a delegate to the World Health Conference in
London in 1957, working directly with Prince Phillip who was the
honorary chair.
She then served as chief of the department of pediatrics at Mercy
Hospital in Orlando from 1965 to 1968.
Maguire also assumed leadership roles in state and national health
care organizations between 1952 and 1970. She helped create the
Florida Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services, now
operating as the Department of Health and the Department of Children
and Families. She founded the Irish and American Pediatric Society
in 1965 and in 1970 was honored with the Distinguished Achievement
Commendation by London's Two Thousand Women of Distinction.
She was one of the highest ranking women in the federal government
under the Nixon Administration as assistant secretary of health and
scientific affairs for the U.S. Department of Health, Education and
Welfare in Atlanta. She returned to Florida in 1975 to take a
position as medical services director for HRS in Tallahassee. From
1980 to 1987, Maguire was a member of the clinical staff in the
department of pediatrics at the University of Florida.
A life membership in the Florida Medical Association was conferred
upon Maguire in 1981. In addition, she was named International Woman
of the Year in 1992-93 by the International Biographical Centre in
Cambridge.
Maguire's honorary degree will be the 107th conferred by the
university.
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