James Griffin Is the First Black President of the Medical Staff at University of Texas Southwestern Hospital

James Griffin has been appointed president of medical staff at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center’s Parkland Memorial Hospital. In 1958, Dr. Griffin was born at Parkland Memorial Hospital while the delivery ward was still segregated. Over six decades later, he will be the first Black doctor to serve as president of the hospital’s medical staff. The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center enrolls roughly 2,300 students. Black students represent 5 percent of the medical school’s student body. Dr. Griffin has been a faculty member of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center since 1990. He currently serves as a Distinguished Teaching Professor and vice chairman of the department of anesthesiology and pain management. He also serves as chief of Parkland Memorial Hospital’s anesthesia services. Throughout his tenure with the medical school, he has held other leadership positions including director of medical student education and director of resident education for the anesthesiology department. Outside of his appointments with the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dr. Griffin is secretary of the Anesthesiology Section of the National Medical Association and director of the Evelyn E. Henley Anesthesia Society. As a physician, Dr. Griffin specializes in non-narcotic pain medication in anesthesiology...