Obituary

Alvin J. Thompson, MD, MACP, a dedicated physician and community leader, died on May 21, 2012, at the age of 88.

Dr. Thompson attended Howard University, receiving his undergraduate degree in 1944 and his medical degree in 1946. He completed his internship and residency at Homer G. Phillips Hospital in St. Louis from 1946 to 1951. After residency, he moved to Puerto Rico, where he served as chief of medicine at Ramey Air Force Base Hospital from 1951 to 1953. Dr. Thompson was honorably discharged from the United States Air Force with the rank of captain and later attained the rank of major in the Air Force Reserve.

In 1953, he moved to Seattle, where he practiced at the Seattle Veterans' Administration, before entering private practice in internal medicine and gastroenterology. Dr. Thompson served as a clinical professor of medicine at the University of Washington and established the gastrointestinal lab at Providence Hospital. He continued in private practice until his retirement in 1994.

Dr. Thompson was appointed as a consultant to the National Institute of Health and was a member of the National Academy of Sciences, among many other medical and civic activities. Within the College, he served as Governor for Washington and Alaska from 1974 to 1978. He was elected to Fellowship in 1965 and became a Master of the College in 1994.

A full obituary is online.