We recently celebrated the 40 years Dr. David Ingram practiced medicine at WakeMed. The program included eight speakers and lasted for over an hour. To say Dr. Ingram will be missed in his retirement by students, staff, patients, peers and everyone else he has come in contact with during his remarkable career is an understatement.
It was 1974 when Dr. Ingram came to the area after completing his training in both infectious diseases and pediatrics at both Harvard and Yale. He joined the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Medicine, where he started off as an assistant professor in the department of pediatrics, division of infectious diseases.
Luckily for WakeMed, which was then known as Memorial Hospital of Wake County, 1974 was also the year that the NC General Assembly and the UNC School of Medicine established Wake AHEC – bringing medical school faculty such as Dr. Ingram to help train residents here in Wake County.
Through his work with Wake AHEC, Dr. Ingram established WakeMed’s pediatric teaching program, which he has been leading since its inception. He has literally helped train nearly every pediatrician who has come through this area. In addition to his teaching, Dr. Ingram helped shape WakeMed Children’s and make WakeMed a leader in pediatrics.
Dr. Ingram has led our pediatric clinics for over three decades, where we have treated millions of children over the years. He was here when WakeMed opened its first neonatal intensive care unit and the first pediatric intensive care unit back in the 1970s.
He was here in the late 1990s when we opened the first dedicated Children’s Emergency Department in the state, followed by the opening of a newly constructed pediatric intensive care unit and WakeMed’s first pediatrics inpatient unit in 1998. His vision has helped WakeMed become the leader we are today in pediatrics in Wake County, the region and across the state.
He is a tireless advocate for children, both in his career and through his dedicated work with numerous professional organizations such as SAFEChild, the North Carolina Pediatric Society, American Professional Society of the Abuse of Children and others.
We are incredibly fortunate that Dr. Ingram has been with us for the past 40 years. He will be greatly missed, but his legacy will live on as we continue to grow our pediatric services here and throughout the region.
Dr. Ingram, as you turn off your pager for the first time in 40 years, we thank you for your significant contribution to WakeMed and to pediatric healthcare in our community.
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