 | BURIS RAYE BOSHELL |
The following biographical sketch was compiled at the time of induction into the Academy in 1982.
Buris Raye Boshell, physician, educator and author, was born October 9, 1926 near Phil Campbell.
He earned the bachelor of science degree in Agriculture, Alabama Polytechnic Institute, 1947. He
received the doctor of medicine degree in 1953 from Harvard School of Medicine and interned at
Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, 1953-1954. He was a Junior Assistant Resident in Medicine, 1954-1955; Senior Assistant, 1955-1956; Chief Medical Resident Physician, 1958-1959, and a Research
Fellow in Medicine at Harvard University.
He joined the faculty of the School of Medicine, University of Alabama in Birmingham, as an
Assistant Professor of Medicine, 1959; Associate Professor of Medicine, 1962; Chief of Medical
Services, Veterans Administration Hospital, Birmingham, 1962-1968; Assistant Director,
Department of Medicine, University of Alabama, 1963-1968, and in 1968 was appointed Director
of the Third Year Student Program, Department of Medicine.
In 1963 he was appointed Chief of Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Department of
Medicine; was named the Ruth Lawson Hanson Professor of Medicine, Department of Medicine,
University of Alabama, 1964, and was appointed Medical Director, Diabetes Research and
Education Hospital, Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Alabama, 1973.
The University of Perpetual Help, Philippines, conferred the honorary degree Doctor of Science on
him in 1981.
He was a member of numerous professional organizations: American Medical Association, Alabama
Diabetes Association, Endocrine Society, Fellow American College of Physicians, Fellow American
Institute of Chemists, American Diabetes Association, Southern Society of Clinical Investigation,
the Newcomen Society of North America, American Federation for Clinical Research, American
College of Clinical Pharmacology and Chemotherapy, and the Medical Association of the State of
Alabama.
He authored two books: The Diabetic at Work and Play (1971) and the Diabetes Mellitus Case
Studies (1976) and either authored or co-authored ninety scientific papers and forty scientific
abstracts. He was a member of several honorary and scientific organizations: Sigma Xi, Alpha Omega
Alpha, Omicron Delta Kappa, Phi Kappa Phi, Tau Kappa Alpha, and Gamma Sigma Delta.
Buris Raye Boshell married Martha Sue Johnson on June 4, 1951 and they have two children: Patty
and Thomas Eppinger. Dr. Boshell is now deceased.
Updated: March 13, 2007