Houston Medical Pioneer, Mavis Kelsey, Turns 90; Colleagues Turn Out to Celebrate His Work
WHAT
Kelsey-Seybold Clinic, Houston’s largest community-based multi-specialty physician group, will honor its founder, Mavis Kelsey, on the occasion of his 90th birthday at the clinic’s Main Campus near the Medical Center. Colleagues from NASA, St. Luke’s Episcopal Health System, University of Texas Medical Branch and more will come together to speak on the impact Dr. Kelsey’s legacy has had on the community and healthcare in Houston.
As part of the ceremony, UTMB student Matthew Mays, 2002 recipient of the Mavis P. Kelsey Excellence in Medicine Award, will also speak. For the past 15 years, the Kelsey Excellence in Medicine Award has provided $8,000 scholarships to help defray the fourth-year medical school expenses of its recipients.
WHEN
MONDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2002
5 p.m.
WHERE
Kelsey-Seybold Clinic
Main Campus
2727 West Holcombe Blvd.
Houston, TX 77025
WHY
Kelsey left the Mayo Clinic in 1940 to return to his Texas homeland and open a practice in the emerging Texas Medical Center. To provide what he considered the best possible patient care, Dr. Kelsey followed the Mayo model, bringing together a team of specialists, general practitioners, nurses and other caregivers. His concept included complete physical examinations of patients, something seldom practiced at the time, which created an early sense of preventive medicine. Dr. Kelsey’s continuing innovative and insightful approach to healthcare, including the development of one of the first occupational medicine programs in the country and providing healthcare services to NASA astronauts in their families stationed both in Houston and Russia, has had a lasting impact on the Houston medical community and beyond.
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Founded in 1949, the Kelsey-Seybold Clinic combines the expertise of over 250 physicians in 39 specialties and subspecialties, practicing in 23 clinics throughout the area. Kelsey-Seybold physicians bring innovative ideas and vision to a health care delivery system that currently serves over 300,000 patients through health insurance and managed care plans, employer groups, the U.S. Department of Defense and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Its research affiliate, the Kelsey Research Foundation, is engaged in outcomes-based research studies designed to improve community health through information and education.
