October, 1936 – February, 2018
H. Kenneth Walker, MD, was a founding member of OMF’s Board of Directors.
Dr. Walker was a professor of neurology at Emory University and the CEO of Partners for International Health, a non-governmental organization focused on providing advanced medical training to physicians and nurses in underdeveloped countries. The organization is funded by grants from the US Agency for International Development and the Georgia state government.
Dr. Walker was the director of the internal medicine residency program and director of the junior medicine clerkship and sophomore clinical methods at Emory. Dr. Walker was deeply involved in medical education, including organizing medical data and evaluating surgical patients. He wrote and edited books that focus on physical diagnosis.
Dr. Walker was particularly interested in applying computer technology to medicine. He was instrumental in establishing a pioneering electronic medical record at Grady Hospital in Atlanta and has been a member, chair, and senior consultant to the Board of Regents of the National Library of Medicine. From 1997-2008, he served on the White House Regional Fellowship Selection Committee and collaborated with Nobel Prize winner Mohammad Yunus to develop an improved health care system for Bangladesh and other resource-challenged countries.
Dr. Walker was a wonderful and compassionate individual, who will be very much missed. May he be remembered for all of the help that he brought to millions of people around the world.