 | IRA LEE MYERS |
The following biographical sketch was compiled at the time of induction into the Academy in 1986, and updated in 2008.
Dr. Ira Lee Myers was a native of Alabama, having been born in Madison County on February 9, 1924. He was the son of a
Baptist minister.
Ira Myers earned a B.S. degree at Howard College (now Samford University) and later received a Doctor of Medicine
degree from the University of Alabama School of Medicine. Harvard University conferred the degree of Master of Public
Health, cum laude, upon him in 1953.
Dr. Myers was married to the former Dorothy Will Foust of Cullman, Alabama. They are the parents of four children:
Martha, Joanna, Grady, and Steve.
Dr. Myers' internship was served in the United States Public Health Service in Seattle, Washington. During his five
years' work with the Public Health Service, he participated in field studies of polio epidemiology and field trials of the the
Salk Polio Vaccine. Dr. Myers returned to Alabama in 1955 and was appointed administrative officer to the State Health
Officer, Dr. D. G. Gill.
On January 1, 1963, Dr. Myers was elected Alabama's eighth State Health Officer. He served longer than any other
such state official and was the youngest such official in the United States at the time of his selection for that position.
Dr. Myers achieved national prominence in his field of service and of his profession.
Dr. Myers died on July 23, 2008.
Updated: July 28, 2008