Dr. J. G. Gathings
Dr. J. G. Gathings was a physician who specialized in dermatology and syphilology. He attended both Meharry Medical College (1924-25) and Howard University where completed his M.D. in 1928. He worked in Houston from 1929-41 as a general practitioner, spent the years 1941-43 as a Julius Rosenwald Fellow in Dermatology and Syphilology at the New York Skin and Cancer Hospital, and then returned to Houston in 1944. After returning to Houston, he limited his practice to dermatology and syphilology, including two years (1944-46) of charge over venereal disease clinics for the Houston Health Department and four years (1944-48) as a clinical assistant in dermatology and syphilology at Baylor University Medical in Houston, Texas. From 1946-65 he served as clinical faculty in dermatology and syphilogy at Howard University Medical in Washington, D. C.
With the National Medical Association (NMA), Gathings served as a board member (1941-49; chair, 1947-49), the first vice-president (1949-50), and finally as president (1951-2). Additionally, he helped to foster the growth of the NMA Journal. Locally, he served as president of the Houston Medical Forum. Awards he received include the Dogan Pemberton Award in Houston, and 1945 Man of the Year (medicine) by the Houston Chapter of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity. After his death in 1965, the Journal of the National Medical Association recalled that they would “treasure his example in having convictions, defending them against any odds and being unswerving in his loyalties.”
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