- Volume 71 , Number 2
- Page: 125
Dr. Bruce Clements 1928-2003
Dr. Bruce Clements, who will be a familiar name to anyone who visited, called for information on Hansen's Disease, or attended a seminar at the Hansen's Disease Center at Carville, Louisiana during the last 30 years, died earlier this year at the age of 74.
Dr. Clements attended Louisiana State University as an undergraduate and medical students from 1945-1951, when he graduated with his M.D. degree. He took his internship in the U.S. Navy and remained in the Navy as a Medical Officer until 1953. Upon leaving the Navy, he went into private practice in his hometown of Bogalusa, Louisiana, and continued as a private practitioner until joining the staff of the Hansen's Disease Center at Carville in 1972.
From the start of his career at the Center, it was evident that Dr. Clements was a very caring and compassionate physician. He was beloved by the patients and staff, and provided outstanding care for all. He also quickly became very knowledgeable about leprosy and was soon lecturing on the disease at the center and elsewhere. He became Chief of Medicine at the Center in 1978, and Chief of the Clinical Branch in 1992. He retired to his home in Bogalusa in 1999.
During his tenure at the Center, he served as a consultant on a number of occasions in South America, the Pacific Islands, and our outpatient clinics in the U.S. He was also author of several publications including the excellent chapter on Leprosy, which he co-authored with Dr. David Scollard for Mandell's Atlas of Infectious Diseases.
Dr. Clements enjoyed retirement, but in 2001 suffered the loss of his wife, Audrey. He still continued to be a frequent visitor to the Center's patients and staff, but his health deteriorated and he ultimately succumbed to heart failure. He is survived by his son and daughter and three grandchildren.
Dr. Clements will be missed by all the patients and staff who knew him, but will be long remembered for his work helping to continually improve the care of Hansen's Disease patients in the U.S. and throughout the world.
- Robert R. Jacobson