Leonidas Harris Berry
July 20, 1902 – December 4, 1995
Gastroenterologist
Co-Founder of the Chicago Council for Biomedical Careers in 1950
Because he was a specialist in diseases of the digestive tract and he always dedicated his time to ensuring medical care reached the black communities and was given the positonas the president of the National Medical Association (NMA). The association fought discrimination and encouraged black physicians to be part of the American Medical Association. American and pioneer in gastroscopy and endoscopy.
He served as the president of the National Medical Association from 1965 to 1966
the first black doctor to work at Chicago’s Michael Reese Hospital in 1946. He was the first black physician to work at the hospital. He was also the first black internist at Cook County Hospital there.
Dr. Berry was born in Woodsdale, N.C., the son of Llewellyn L. Berry, a minister in the African Methodist Episcopal Church.
Reciecpetent of the Distinguished Alumni Award of Rush Medical College and the Freedom Award for Public Service from the Chicago Chapter of the NAACP.
Leonidas was born in Woodsdale, Person County, North Carolina. After graduating from Wilberforce University in 1924, Berry moved to Chicago where he received a second B.S. degree from the University of Chicago, followed by a M.D. degree from the Rush Medical College of the University. In 1933, he also received a M.S. degree in Pathology from the University of Illinois Medical School.
Berry studied endoscopy under the German doctor Rudolph Schindler, who promoted the modern endoscope, a fiber-optic gastro-camera for viewing the digestive tract. Berry became one of the first Americans to use the instrument. He created the Eder-Berry biopsy gastroscope in 1936, the first direct-vision, suction instrument used to obtain stomach tissue samples for microscopic examination. The benefit of using this instrument is the minimal invasion necessary for obtaining the tissue sample. Berry taught hundreds of students and trained hundreds of physicians how to use the device. In 1941, Berry completed a first-of-its-kind study of the stomachs of skid row alcoholics.
Contrary to popular theories, Berry’s study found that the livers, not the stomachs, were diseased as a result of alcohol. Berry read his research paper before the American Medical Association as the keynote speaker. Berry undertook another study in 1944 wherein he examined the possible areas and ways in which the AME Church might participate in the health field, as it had for the past one hundred years in the social services. Berry assumed the position of medical director of the Correctional Health Commission of the AME Church in 1946 and served in that capacity for thirty years.
In 1950, Berry set up the Council for Biomedical Careers, which funded health care conferences and career counseling sessions on such subjects as medicine, dentistry, nursing, pharmacy, medical technology, and how to use local and federal government facilities, public and private schools, and churches to encourage young black men to enter the health field. Berry also became president of the Cook County Physicians Association in 1950, at which time he led an interracial, interfaith, citywide movement for rehabilitating young drug addicts. Then-governor Adlai Stevenson set up an advisory committee to the Department of Public Health on narcotic programs to study the problem and made Berry a member. Berry proposed establishing four medical counseling clinics with the help of the state government to provide aid for drug addicts. Through an act of special legislation, the Illinois General Assembly appropriated $90,000 to set up the Berry Plan. Berry set up medical clinics in Provident, Cook County, and Northwestern hospitals, and the Cook County Jail. The program was unique because it addressed the psychological and physical needs of the addicts and took a medical, rather than criminal, approach to treatment. The Berry Plan was operational from 1951 through 1958. Berry completed his internship at Freedmen’s Hospital and became a founding member of the Association of Former Interns and Residents of Freedmen’s Hospital. In 1952, he coordinated the first annual scientific assembly of the alumni. When the new Freedmen’s Hospital was built, the group erected a plaque in the main lobby that gives the history of the hospital and of the relationship of the original Freedmen’s Hospital to the new facility. In 1964, Berry received the William A. Warfield Award as president of the former interns.
In the early 1950s, Berry started during his presidency of Cook County Hospital’s Physician Association the “Berry Plan”, a citywide movement that provided medical counseling clinics for the prevention and follow-up care of young drug users. It was implemented and operated by the Illinois State Department of Health.
Dr. Leonidas Harris Berry was a strong activist and therefore stood firm with the group as of the 1960’s. As a member, he contributed money for education, legal defense, housing and other needs in Cairo.
They also organized the Flying Black Medics, which flew medical supplies, nurses, doctors, social workers, dietitians and paramedics to Cairo, small town at the southern tip of Illinois, and from Chicago.
On Sunday, February 15, 1970, Berry and a team of nurses, pharmacists, and social workers among other healthcare specialists flew to Cairo, Illinois to see to the medical needs of the community.
Berry eventually retired in 1975 as chief of endoscopy service and senior attending physician at Cook County.
Dr. Berry died in 1995
Berry’s papers, which were given by him to the National Library of Medicine in 1986, centered on Berry’s active professional and civic life. While the earliest copies of family material date from the 1890s, the bulk of the collection dates from the 1950s. Included are correspondence, photographs, newspaper clippings, publications, and lectures. They are available to view on the web at Chicago Libray Archieves.
He wrote an authoritative textbook, “Gastrointestinal Pan-Endoscopy” (Charles C. Thomas, 1974). He also contributed to 84 articles in medical journals and 12 other books and monographs.
Awards
Rudolph Schindler Award 1977 from the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy
Distinguished Service Award from the National Medical Association
First Annual Clinical Achievement Award from the American College of Gastroenterology
Freedom Award for Public Service from the Chicago Chapter of the NAACP
Distinguished Alumni Award of Rush Medical College