2023 LEGENDS OF HEALTHCARE
Dr. Lauritz Creque (posthumously)
Lauritz C. Creque, MD was born in Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, now United States Virgin Islands. His education and multi-cultural lifestyle resulted in him becoming a polyglot with fluency in 3 languages in childhood. He matriculated at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia with the goal of becoming a physician, but his college education was interrupted by military service in the United States Air Force. Afterwards, he resumed his pre-medical studies at Morehouse College and his musical passions, singing tenor in the choir and playing the violin.
Dr. Creque attended and graduated from Meharry Medical School in 1952 and completed his residency in Surgery at Kate Bitting Memorial Hospital in Winston- Salem. He remained on the medical staff, eventually serving as the Chief of Staff. He was also one of the medical examiners for Forsyth County. His private practice served a broad radius as he provided surgical and general medical care for residents in several counties. This included house calls beyond inpatient surgical procedures, hospital rounds, administrative duties and a busy office based, outpatient practice. Due to segregation, many African Americans had limited access to treatment options offered across the breadth of medical specialties. Recognizing a growing need for other specialties in the community, Dr. Creque pursued his long-term interest in pathology, one of the least represented specialties for African Americans. He pursued his residency in Pathology at Columbia University in New York, New York. Over the next 20 years, Dr. Creque continued his clinical faculty position in the Department of Pathology at Columbia University Medical School, and also used his multi-lingual skills in an outpatient medical practice in Hunts Point, Bronx, New York, and concurrently as Medical Director of the Harlem Blood Bank. He was a dedicated member of the Old North State Medical Society, the Twin City Medical Society, Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, and The Mules. Throughout his career he served on Boards in Winston-Salem and New York City. Dr. Creque’s work enhanced health care delivery by permeating barriers previously forged by differences in culture, language, geography, and knowledge. As a result of his medical contributions, he received a Congressional Award from his native United States Virgin Islands. In 2010 Morehouse College awarded Dr. Creque posthumously for his medical contributions and he was honored during the Dr. Cheryl Franklin Health Professions Scholarship program with a scholarship supporting medical excellence in his name. of
HEALTHCARE
in EAST WINSTON
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