Heads Tropical Institute

IN THE 1920's he portered on a pullman to supplement his scholarships at Lincoln University. Today Hildrus Augustus Poindexter m' 27 is the head of a new institute for tropical medicine in Liberia established jointly by the Liberian government, the U. S. Public Health Service, and the Firestone Company.

Many a passenger in his pullman section buzzed in vain when Poindexter was absorbed in his calculus. These inconvenienced railroad patrons would now forgive and forget in view of the many lives he has saved through his brilliant research in tropical medicine.

From Dartmouth Medical School he went to Harvard for an M.D. and to Columbia for an M.A. in Public Health. Climbing steadily forward, he received a Ph.D. from Columbia in Parasitology in 1932. The preceding year he had begun teaching at Howard University, Washington, D. C., eventually becoming professor and head of the University's department of bacteriology and public health.

Poindexter entered active service in 1943 as a major in the medical corps. As Chief Epidemiologist on South Pacific Islands he fought a highly successful battle against malaria. Moving around from Borneo to Java, from Luzon to Japan, he cut the malaria rate for American military personnel by 85 per cent within six months after taking over. Twice during the Bougainville campaign he received official commendation and in 1944 he was awarded a Bronze Star for his exceptional work on the problems of malarial control.

Before he was appointed head of the new Liberian institute for tropical medicine, Poindexter served as Senior Surgeon in the Public Health Service.

DR. HILDRUS A. POINDEXTER '27 M