Later Career
Burch became a senior academic with his 1947 appointment to the Chairmanship of the Department of Medicine at Tulane University, holding this position until his retirement in 1975, taking on emeritus status. The chairmanship coincided with his appointment as Henderson Professor of Medicine, an endowed position. As chairman, he created one of the first infectious diseases sections among medical schools in the U.S., certainly the first in medical schools in the American South. With medical school dean Charles C. Bass, he likewise instituted a section on Dental Health within the medical school, an action that remains uncommon today. He maintained his responsibility as attending physician at the same ward at Charity Hospital, sponsored the Hutchinson Clinic for medical education (created by Charles C. Bass), instituted a tutorial system for medicine residents, and led one of the earliest Fellowship programs for Cardiology Fellows. Burch developed continuing education programs for practicing physicians.
During this portion of Burch's career, he continued his investigations of fundamental physiological processes underlying cardiovascular disease and delineated diagnostic procedures for certain cardiovascular diseases, including Papillary Muscle Syndrome and the ECG pattern characteristic of certain cerebrovascular diseases. Working with the extensive patient population of Charity Hospital, he was instrumental in the discovery of Hemoglobin SS and its relevance to Sickle Cell Disease. Burch was an early pioneer in the use of radioisotopes for diagnostic purposes and for understanding fundamental physiological processes, focusing on electrolyte metabolism in congestive heart failure. He held License Number 1 for the civilian use of radioisotopes. An area of clinical emphasis was his efforts on understanding the role of the psyche in illness.
Burch subsequently became editor-in-chief of the American Heart Journal, holding this position from 1959 - 1982.
He was one of the founders of the Association of Professors of Medicine and the Southern Society for Clinical Investigation. Additionally, he founded the Association of Former Chairmen of Medicine and the Association of University Cardiologists, becoming the latter's first president. Burch was chairman of the World Health Organization Expert Advisory Panel on Cardiovascular Diseases and Chairman of the Advisory Committee to the U.S. Army on Environmental Medicine and Physiology. The latter project involved successfully sending the first two monkeys into space. Burch also served as a consultant to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
Through his association with William T. Kirby, then chairman of the MacArthur Foundation, Burch conceived of the idea of the Foundation's Fellows Program.
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