1991 Tyler Laureate
C. Everett Koop
`A quiet passion burns . . .
for the sensation of constant advance. "Edward O. Wilson, 1984 Laureate
C. Everett Koop was sworn in as the 13th Surgeon General of the United
States in 1981. As the chief public health officer in the U.S., Dr. Koop
transformed his office into a mighty weapon for public education on smoking,
AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome), diet, and the health of children.
Dr. Koop stood as the sentinel and the conscience of the nation as it turned
an historic corner in the recognition of and response to the risks of individual
smoking, passive smoking, and the AIDS epidemic. His frank stands and formal
reports were unprecedented in their candor, explicit language, and advocacy
of improved elementaryschool health education.
As early as May 20, 1984, Dr. Koop announced his plan for a Smoke Free Society by the year 2000. His quest was consistent with the mix of idealism and pragmatism which he applied to all major public health issues he faced as Surgeon General. Persuaded by medical research that secondhand smoke had a dangerous effect on non-smokers, Dr. Koop advocated smokefree environments in the workplace, in restaurants, and in airplanes. He was instrumental in inspiring many changes in state and local laws affecting smoking in public places. When he tackled the subject of smoking in a 1986 report, Dr. Koop bluntly linked all forms of cigarette smoking to cancer, shed light on the addictive dangers of nicotine, condemned smoking as "the greatest killer and producer of premature deaths" in the United States, and exhorted physicians to accept a greater role in educating their patients about the hazards of smoking. He was the first national health official to publicly acknowledge that smoking cigarettes is linked to strokes, chronic lung diseases, and cancer in organs not related to the respiratory tract.
C. Everett Koop presided over an era of fundamental change in the opinion of the American people about smoking especially the hazards of exposure to tobacco smoke in the environment. Through intensely personal leadership, Dr. Koop's impact was catalytic on cleansing enclosed living environments. He claims the decrease in the number of smokers as his greatest accomplishment while in office.
The number of American smokers dropped from 34% to 26% - almost 20 million people - during his tenure as Surgeon General. Dr. Koop was particularly critical of the tobacco industry for targeting young people as the next generation of "replacement smokers," so he launched a campaign to inform children of the negative effects of smoking.
AIDS provoked growing concern during 1986 as health authorities began to realize the full implications and international dimensions of the disease. The potential global consequences of the AIDS epidemic were officially recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO) in November, 1986, in an announcement which described the disease as "a health disaster of pandemic proportions." The prospect that heterosexual transmission might become predominant outside of Africa could not be dismissed. In a report issued in 1986, Surgeon General Koop warned of the potential spread of AIDS beyond the already identified highrisk groups to the population at large. By mailing an informative pamphlet on AIDS to every American household, Dr. Koop gave most people their first comprehensive information in plain language about the disease.
When he was sixteen at Dartmouth College, Koop decided to specialize in pediatric surgery because there were only five such physicians in the nation. After receiving his degree from Dartmouth, he graduated from Cornell Medical School, and pursued his Sc.D. at the Graduate School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. In 1947, Dr. Koop joined the University of Pennsylvania Hospital as Assistant Surgeon. One year later he was named SurgeoninChief at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, where he established the nation's first neonatal intensive care unit.
Upon his departure from his government post in 1989, Dr. Koop was given the Surgeon General's Exemplary Service Medal and the Surgeon General's Medallion. In 1990, the National Academy of Sciences presented Dr: Koop with its Public Welfare Medal, the Academy's highest distinction, which carries with it honorary membership in the Academy.