Oral History

Oral History Project–Preserving the Legacies of Prominent Maryland Physicians

Oral History of Maryland Medicine

Under the leadership of Dr. Allan Jensen, Chair of the History of Maryland Medicine Committee, the Center for a Healthy Maryland has recently launched an oral history project. The project is collecting oral histories of notable contemporary Maryland physicians in order to preserve their contributions for posterity and add to the legacy of Maryland Medicine. Oral histories are recorded, transcribed and may be videotaped.

The complete oral history will be saved in the MedChi archives and an additional copy will be presented to the subject and his or her family. The project launched this year with the first oral history completed and presented to Dr. George Malouf, Sr.

Dr. George Malouf, Sr.

Dr. George Malouf, Sr. was born in Lebanon and received his Doctorate in Medicine from the French Faculty of Medicine in Beirut. After completing his residency training at Boston City Hospital, he served in the U.S. Army Medical Corps and came to Maryland. In 1958 he opened up his ophthalmology practice in Prince George’s County, the Malouf Eye Center. He is currently joined in his practice by his two sons, Dr. Alan Malouf and Dr. George Malouf, Jr. and the practice has grown to three locations.

Throughout his career, Dr. Malouf has been very involved in the community and in organized medicine. He is a charter member of the Maryland Society of Eye Physicians and Surgeons and served as President for the Society in 1981.  He has been active in the Prince George’s County Medical Society serving as President and as a Board member. He became President of MedChi in 1984 and currently is the Chairman of the Maryland delegation to the American Medical Association.

Dr. Malouf is the recipient of many professional honors and awards. In 1991, Dr. Malouf was honored with the prestigious Benjamin Rush Award for Citizenship and Community Service from the American Medical Association for his outstanding contribution to the community for citizenship and public service that is above and beyond the call of duty of a practicing physician.

In 1988 he received the Governor’s Citation for “deep commitment to his fellow citizens of Maryland..as demonstrated by his pioneering efforts in the filed of ophthalmology and his distinguished record of community service…”

Other awards include the Prince Georgian of the Year Award in 1988 and MedChi’s A.H. Robbins Award for “outstanding community service by a physician” in 1987.

Please read the transcript of Dr. Malouf’s interview or listen to the audio recording to learn more about Dr. Malouf and his thoughts on the practice of medicine.

Excerpts from Dr. Malouf’s interview:

“The Medical Society was created by an act of legislation and they created that body to make sure that we protect the patient from the charlatans and the ones that are not qualified to practice medicine. And that is what we have been doing all along.  And, in the meantime we developed as a medical society, what is best for medicine, what is best for physicians. We always do it with the understanding that the patient comes first.”

“I’ll tell you, I always felt that the patient comes first. The patient is not an opportunity to make money. It’s an opportunity to serve. I listen to the patient and make sure to understand what the patient wants.  And, always do what is best for the patient not what is best for the practice. And you find that after awhile when you serve the best interests of the patient you will serve your best interests.”