C. Everett Koop, MD

Surgeon General of The United States | 1982-1989

Remembering the Opposition by Public Health Groups to the Nomination of Dr. Koop as Surgeon General

Rick Richards, MD and Alan Blum, MD, co-founders of DOC (Doctors Ought to Care, 1977-2002), discuss the opposition by public health groups to President Ronald Reagan’s nomination of renowned pediatric surgeon Dr. C. Everett Koop as Surgeon General in 1982. (02:07)

Reference: https://www.upi.com/Archives/1982/01/22/Dr-C-Everett-Koop-whose-nomination-to-the-post/9554380523600/.

Dr. C. Everett Koop presents Drs. Rick Richards and Alan Blum with the Surgeon General's Medallion, 1988

At the 1988 Annual Scientific Assembly of the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) in New Orleans, US Surgeon General C. Everett Koop awarded Rick Richards, MD (on right), Alan Blum, MD (on left), and Tom Houston, MD (not pictured) the Surgeon General’s Medallion for their pioneering decade-long public health activism through their organization DOC (Doctors Ought to Care).

Other photographs include Drs. Koop and Blum with William Cahan, MD (1914-2001), a prominent thoracic surgeon for more than 50 years at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and a leading anti-smoking activist in New York City, where he led People for a Smoke-Free Indoors. The photo was taken on January 18, 1996 at the ceremony for the Smoke-Free America Awards, hosted by Drs. Cahan and Koop. Dr. Blum was one of the recipients.