Raymond C. Grandon Lecture

Raymond Charles Grandon, MD, a lifelong Pennsylvanian, earned his medical degree from Jefferson Medical College in 1945. He completed a nine month general internship at St. Luke's Hospital in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, served in the United States Army and completed a residency in internal medicine at the Harrisburg Hospital in Harrisburg Pennsylvania. Dr. Grandon subsequently entered private practice as a solo practitioner.

An internist with a special interest in cardiovascular disease, Dr. Grandon was responsible for the first televised heart operation in the United States. He was a clinical investigator in cardioactive drugs, the first of which was reserpine for hypertension. Dr. Grandon also helped to coordinate the nation's first commercially successful cardiac rehabilitation program utilizing graded exercise with continuous oscilloscope monitoring.

During his junior and senior years at Jefferson he served as a Clinical Clerk in the Evening Cardiac Clinics of the Pennsylvania Hospital. This included his performance of orthodiagrams of rheumatic heart patients in the then-famous "Lying in Unit" of the hospital

While still a medical resident, he became actively involved in medical education with the Pennsylvania Medical Society (PMS). He held all elected offices with the Society, including that of President. Other capacities in which he served PMS included: nine years as a member of its judicial council and service on the committee for the Society's 150th anniversary celebration.

Dr. Grandon has served as a past President of organizations such as Central Pennsylvania Academy of Medicine, Dauphin County Medical Society, the Medical and Dental Bureau of Harrisburg, and the Pennsylvania Society of Internal Medicine. He is past Director of Medical Education at Harrisburg Hospital; and the Founder and past Chairman of the Regional Advisory Group of the Federal Health Program for the Susquehanna Valley Regional Program. Dr. Grandon has also served as Clinical Professor at Penn State Hershey Medical Center, Director of Medical Education at Harrisburg Hospital, Medical Director of a skilled nursing facility, and a member of the JMC Alumni Association Executive Committee. Later, he served as a Trustee to the American Society of Internal Medicine.

Dr. Grandon completed his eight years as Chairman of the American Medical Association's (AMA) Board of Trustees Ad Hoc Committee for Medical Legal Problems and served as a delegate to the AMA for 24 years. He also served as President of the Forum On Medical Affairs in 1991 and holds a life membership in the American College of Physicians.

Dr. Grandon has been the recipient of many awards, including, the Pennsylvania Society of Internal Medicine's Robert Pressman Distinguished Internist of Pennsylvania in 1997. The Rotary Foundation International named Dr. Grandon a Paul Harris Fellow in appreciation of tangible and significant assistance given for the furtherance of better understanding and friendly relations between people of the world.

Dr. Grandon served as Medical Director of the Villa Theresa Extended Care Facility and the Pennsylvania Life Insurance Company in addition to his full time practice of Internal Medicine in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

Long active in voluntary medical and community organizations, Dr. Grandon has also been involved with medical issues at the state level; as a member of the Governor's Commission on Alcoholism; as the first Medical Director of the Pennsylvania Health Department's Counseling Center on Alcoholism; as a member of the State Board of Medical Education and Licensure; and as a member of the Health Department's Laboratory Advisory General's Advisory Committee and the Attorney General's Advisory Committee on Drug and Alcohol Problems. At the national level, he has served as a committee member of the Federation of State Medical Licensing Boards, and as a Delegate and Trustee of the American Society of Internal Medicine. Dr. Grandon has recently been elected a member of the National Association of Internists, and is in the 2010 edition of the Leading Physicians in the World. In 2010, Dr. Grandon was awarded the Doctor of Science honorary degree from Thomas Jefferson University. he has also served as a Physician Consultant to the Physician's Council for Responsible Health Care Reform.

Residents of New Cumberland, Dr. Grandon and his wife Doris have three children: Raymond Jr., Suzanne, and David; and a grandson, Matthew.