E. Harvey Estes, Jr.

In 1966, E. Harvey Estes, Jr. MD, then a Duke cardiologist, was recruited from the Department of Medicine, to lead the newly created Department of Community Health Sciences. He was a tenured professor of medicine and recognized as an outstanding cardiologist and electrocardiographer. He had been actively involved in statewide medical programs and organizations throughout the 1950s and ‘60s. Dr. Estes was president of the North Carolina Heart Association in 1965, was active in the North Carolina Medical Society, and elected president of the Durham-Orange County Medical Society in 1970 and the North Carolina Medical Society in 1977.

During his tenure as chair, Estes oversaw the growth of the department to include student health, occupational health, the Physician Assistant Program, information sciences, biostatistics, the Duke Diet and Fitness Program, and the Duke-Watts Family Medicine Residency Program. He resigned as chair in 1985 in response to a medical center decision to close the successful community hospital-based family medicine residency, perceived by other clinical chairs as a threat to Duke Hospital-based clinics. He continued as a clinical faculty member until 1990, when he retired to head a new N.C. Medical Society program to recruit and retain practitioners in underserved areas of North Carolina.

Dr. Estes' Bio on the PA History Society Website