James Laurey, M.D.

James Laurey, M.D., graduated from the Detroit College of Medicine and Surgery, the forerunner of the Wayne State University School of Medicine, in 1933.

He performed a surgical internship at Providence Hospital in Chicago, and a surgical residency at Parkside Hospital in Detroit after graduation. He served as an instructor in the Department of Surgery at the University of Michigan from 1936 to 1939, then joined the faculty at Howard University Hospital after being recruited by Numa P.G. Adams, dean of Howard, who also recruited Charles Drew, M.D., and John Manly, M.D., to provide surgical training to medical students.

Dr. Laurey served as a Rockefeller fellow for two years in chest surgery at the University of Michigan. He became board certified in General Surgery in 1941 and in Thoracic Surgery in 1949. After specialty training, he returned to Howard to assist in organizing and developing the Division of Thoracic Surgery.

He led Howard’s Department of Surgery from 1950 to 1955, and continued as chief of the Division of Thoracic Surgery until stepping down as chair of the department.

He died in 1964 after training hundreds of African American medical students and surgeons.