Brief Chronology

  • 1890 --Born in Colorado Springs, Colorado to James Bartlett Gregg, a Congregationalist minister, and Mary Needham, an accomplished musician, July 11
  • 1911 --BA from Harvard College
  • 1916 --MD from Harvard Medical School
  • 1916-17 --Intern at Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston
  • 1917-19 --Served in Royal Army Medical Corps, France
  • 1919-22 --Worked for Rockefeller Foundation's International Health Board; served on field staff of hookworm campaign in Rio Grande do Sol, Santa Catarina, and Alagoas, Espirito Santo, Brazil
  • 1922 --Hookworm eradication campaign in Pernabuco, Brazil
  • 1922-24 --Associate Director, Division of Medical Education, Rockefeller Foundation, New York
  • 1923 --Surveyed medical education in Mexico and Colombia
  • 1924-30 --Associate Director, Division of Medical Education (after 1928, Medical Sciences), Paris
  • 1924-25 --Surveyed medical education in Italy
  • 1925 --Surveyed medical education in Ireland; established funding to support programs for Italy, Ireland, and France
  • 1927 --Surveyed medical education in the Soviet Union
  • 1930-51 --Director of Medical Sciences Division, Rockefeller Foundation
  • 1931-39 --Began funding for new and expanded teaching of psychiatry at major American medical schools including Harvard, Hopkins, Yale, Rochester, and Washington University
  • 1932 --Funded Neurological Institute at McGill University in Montreal, led by Wilder Penfield
  • 1936 --First trip to China; visited Peking Union Medical College
  • 1936 --Funded clinical trials of new sulfa drugs for puerperal fever at Queen Charlotte Maternity Hospital, London, under Richard Colebrook
  • 1940 --Last trip to France before Nazi invasion
  • 1946 --Headed delegation to China to examine postwar and civil war situation
  • 1947-53 --Chaired Medical Committee of the Atomic Energy Committee
  • 1951-52 --Surveyed medical education in India and Southeast Asia
  • 1951-56 --Vice President of the Rockefeller Foundation
  • 1954-55 --Served on medical committee of Hoover Commission for Efficiency in Government, helped secure approval for National Library of Medicine
  • 1956 --Received Special Albert Lasker Award for distinguished service and leadership in public health, medical education, and research
  • 1957 --Died in Big Sur, California, June 19