On 29 February 2000, Dr. Hugh A. (Chip) McAllister, Jr. retired from his positions as chairman of the Department of Cardiovascular Pathology (Texas Heart Institute) and chief of the Department of Pathology (St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital).
At Dr. Cooley's invitation and with my encouragement, Chip joined the staff of the Texas Heart Institute in 1984 as the founding chairman of the new Department of Cardiovascular Pathology. In collaboration with the existing chairmen of Cardiovascular Surgery, Cardiovascular Anesthesiology, Cardiology, and Pediatric Cardiology, he greatly strengthened the research and educational structure of the Texas Heart Institute.
Born at Walter Reed General Hospital in Washington, DC, Chip soon moved with his family to North Carolina, where he lived his early years. Dr. McAllister received his undergraduate education at Davidson College, North Carolina, and his graduate education (MD, 1966) at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Immediately after medical school, he began an illustrious Army career as an intern at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. This was followed by training in pathology and cardiac pathology at Walter Reed General Hospital and the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (AFIP), this last under the tutelage of the renowned Dr. William Manion. After Dr. Manion's premature death, Dr. McAllister continued in his footsteps, first as the Acting Chief, Division of Cardiovascular Pathology and then as Chairman, Department of Cardiovascular Pathology, AFIP. He served in the latter capacity from 1971 until his retirement as Colonel, Medical Corps, in 1984.
In the Armed Forces and in his subsequent career, Dr. McAllister has been highly respected in cardiovascular pathology, both nationally and internationally. His interests have spanned a wide spectrum of cardiovascular conditions, including valvular heart disease, myocarditis, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and sudden death in young soldiers, cardiac tumors, coronary artery diseases of diverse origins, and vascular diseases arising from combat injuries. His exhaustive atlas, Tumors of the Cardiovascular System (1978)—prepared with Dr. John J. Fenoglio while both had ready access to AFIP's vast tissue repository—stands today not only as a recognized classic in medical literature but as a work of enduring usefulness. During his military career, Dr. McAllister held academic appointments at the Uniformed University of the Health Sciences, Georgetown University School of Medicine, George Washington University School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University Hospital, and the University of North Carolina School of Medicine.
After his retirement from the Army, Chip was recruited to Houston, where he not only chaired the Texas Heart Institute's Department of Cardiovascular Pathology but held appointments as Clinical Professor of Pathology at Baylor College of Medicine and the University of Texas Medical School in Houston. In 1987, he was appointed Chief, Department of Pathology, St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital.
At the Texas Heart Institute, Dr. McAllister broadened his cardiovascular research into the pathology of heart transplantation and rejection. He developed a system for grading cardiac allograft rejection, which has become the cornerstone in THI's clinical management of the transplant patient. In fact, the THI grading scale for cardiac rejection subsequently became a model for the grading scale adopted by the International Society for Heart Transplantation.
While in Houston, Chip continued his contributions to the pathology literature (especially the literature on cardiac tumors) in the form of journal articles, monographs, and book chapters. He collaborated in the editing and writing of 2 additional books, Aortitis: Clinical, Pathologic and Radiographic Aspects (1986) and Atlas of Valvular Heart Disease: Clinical and Pathologic Aspects (1997).
For many years, Dr. McAllister has served on the Editorial Board of the Texas Heart Institute Journal and more recently on the Board of Circulation, where he edits the Images in Cardiovascular Medicine section.
We, his associates at the Texas Heart Institute and St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital, view his retirement with a sense of loss, for we will see somewhat less of a respected colleague and friend. I myself have known Chip since his internship at Walter Reed General Hospital. He plans to continue publishing in the field of cardiovascular pathology and to continue editing the Images section of Circulation. His great love of nature and the outdoors has for some time motivated him to work intently with the World Wildlife Fund, which he now serves as a member both of its National Council and of the Development Committee of its Board of Directors. Dr. McAllister looks forward to devoting more of his time to these duties.
We at the Texas Heart Institute wish him and his wife Angela continued health and happiness in their new life of retirement.