PUBLIC AWARENESS
Dr. J.D. Polk, Major General (ret), honored with MAFP Military Award Dr. J.D. Polk of Raymond was presented with the MAFP’s Military Award at the Fall Conference. Six MAFP members have been honored with the award since it was established in 2006. MAFP President Dr. David Wheat commended Dr. Polk for his “outstanding dedication and service to his community and to his nation.” He was chosen for the award by the MAFP Awards Committee. Dr. Polk achieved the rank of Major General during his time in the Mississippi Army National Guard and retired from the military in 1998. He practices medicine at Richland Primary Care in Richland. Dr. Polk, the son of a veterinarian, said he grew up watching his friend’s father, his next-door neighbor, practice medicine as a generalist. “My father treated their horses, and his father treated me,” he said. Dr. Polk vividly recalls going on house calls with his neighbor and that had a big influence on him and his intention to go into family medicine. “I saw that as a kid, and I said this is what I want to do,” he said. “It’s in my blood.” Born in Auburn, AL, Dr. Polk graduated from high school in Raymond, completed Hinds Community College and earned a bachelor’s degree from Mississippi College. He completed four years at the University of Mississippi Medical Center and received his doctor of medicine degree in 1971. As was customary in those days when there were no family medicine residencies, he did a 1-year internship at Mississippi Baptist Hospital in Jackson and earned his certification from the American Board of Family Practice (now Family Medicine). Dr. Polk began practicing family medicine at South Central Medical Clinic in 1972, became a full partner in the clinic in 1973 and later purchased the business in 1979. The clinic moved to Rankin County under the name of Richland Primary Care in 1991. After joining the Mississippi Army National Guard in 1972, Dr. Polk was commissioned as a first lieutenant and served for the next ten years as a general medical officer in the Mississippi Army National Guard. He was promoted to preventative medicine staff officer, commander of a support battalion, and later became commander of the 213th medical brigade of the Mississippi Army National Guard. Over a 16-year career, he was promoted through the ranks and became a Brigadier General.
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For more information on MAFP awards and how to nominate someone, visit www.msafp.org/awards.
Dr. J.D. Polk of Raymond and his wife, Gay. Dr. Polk humbly credits his friendship with U.S. Congressman G.V. (Sonny) Montgomery, who represented Mississippi in Congress from 1966 to 1997, with his rise through the ranks. “He recommended me for generalship,” Dr. Polk said. “I was in the right place at the right time.” Over the years, Dr. Polk completed multiple military schools: the Medical Specialist Course and the AMEDD Reserve Officer Advanced Course, both at the Academy of Health Sciences; and the Command and General Staff College. In September 1995, Dr. Polk was promoted to Major General and accepted a position in the Office of the Surgeon General of the U.S. Army in Falls Church, VA, serving for the next three years as Special Assistant to the Deputy Surgeon General, at the time Dr. Alcide M. Lanoue.
In the 1980s, working at the Pentagon for the man Dr. Polk says was “50 years ahead of his time” gave Polk a broad perspective of medicine and its future. Polk described how he took part in Dr. Lanoue’s quarterly “think tank” meetings at which physicians of all specialties brainstormed the future of medicine and its integration into the military. “[Lanoue] invented telemedicine,” Dr. Polk said, adding that he also predicted robotic surgery, gene editing and patient self-diagnosis using the internet. In 1998, he completed his service and retired from the military. Dr. Polk continues to work at Richland Primary Care Center. After many successful years as CEO of the corporation, he sold the practice in 2014 and remains on staff there today. Dr. Polk takes pride in serving as a preceptor for medical students interested in family medicine. “It’s part of an obligation we as physicians have,” he said, “to pass the knowledge on.” His early business partner, Dr. John Murphy, taught him all about running a business, and Dr. Polk is passing on that knowledge to the next generation. Dr. Polk and his wife, Gay, have a successful small hay farm in south Hinds County. They have three children, William Alan Polk, Jason Lane Polk and Joe Vertucci. They have 7 grandchildren and 1 greatgrandchild.
Dr. David Wheat, left, presented Dr. Polk with the MAFP Military Award at the MAFP Fall Conference in 2018.
