Dr.
C. Everett Koop is best known as the outspoken 13th Surgeon General
of the United States, reaching millions at the time with vital
health education on smoking and AIDS, but he spent most of his
career working hands-on and one-on-one as a ground-breaking pediatric
surgeon. For 35 years before he was appointed as Surgeon General
by President Ronald Reagan in 1982, Dr. Koop worked as surgeon-in-chief
at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. In addition to performing
thousands of often life saving operations himself, under his direction
many major innovations in pediatric surgery were developed. He
instituted the nation's second pediatric surgical division at
Children's Hospital, and the nation's first neonatal surgical
intensive care unit, and pioneered and refined many types of surgical
procedures for children. Unlike previous Surgeon Generals, Dr
Koop was very visible and outspoken in his position as the nation's
top doctor. Most Americans at the time easily recognized him with
his mustache-less beard, dressed in his naval admiral uniform,
or wearing a colorful bowtie. His strong positions on a number
of health issues were often controversial. He advocated very strongly
for explicit health warnings about cigarette smoking at a time
when the tobacco industry carried a lot of political clout; he
was a strong advocate for sex education in schools; and as Surgeon
General when the AIDS crisis was first discovered, in an unprecedented
action, mailed educational information about the disease to every
US household. After serving as Surgeon General Dr. Koop continued
teaching and writing about health issues, including the book he
co-authored with his wife, Sometimes Mountains Move, about
how he and his family coped with the death of their college son
years earlier in a rock-climbing accident, as a way to help other
grieving families cope with the loss of a child.
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