They Called Me Super Doc: An Anesthesiologist's Memoir

In They Called Me Super Doc, Melville Q. Wyche, Jr., M.D., a medical trailblazer in anesthesiology practice and education, recounts a life of accomplishment and tells of many "firsts" as a Black anesthesiologist. Through vignettes personal and professional, Wyche chronicles his achievements and setbacks during the journey from his roots in segregated Washington, North Carolina, to retirement in the Washington, D.C., area.Wyche graduated from Meharry Medical College in 1963 and cut his teeth in anesthesiology in the U.S. Army (3-months On The Job Training), ultimately becoming chief of Anesthesia and Operating Room, United States Army Hospital, Camp Zama, Japan. In 1967, he became the first Black accepted into the Department of Anesthesiology Residency Training Program at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, and in 1970 became the first Black faculty member of that department. Dr. Wyche served as chief of Anesthesia Service and Oxygen Therapy Service, Philadelphia General Hospital, in the 1970s and as director and anesthesiologist to the hospital, Department of Anesthesiology, Pennsylvania Hospital (Philadelphia) in the 1980s.In 1988, Dr. Wyche joined Howard University Hospital as program director, Anesthesiology Training Program and later served as professor and chairman of the Department of Anesthesiology and president of the medical staff at Howard Univeristy Hospital. On the national level,Dr. Wyche has served as associate examiner on the American Board of Anesthesiology, as a board member of the Foundation for Anesthesia Education and Research, and as a member of the American Society of Anesthesiologists, among other national organizations. He is the first Black doctor elected into membership in the Association of University Anesthesiologists.Dr. Wyche's father and mother were both educators, but he took another path, or so he thought. He chose medicine, little knowing that his entire career would be devoted to academics, helping to shape the lives arnd practices of young men and women. Read more