Robert H. Felix Papers

Collection

Identifier: MS C 331

Abstract

Includes talks, reprints, and miscellaneous publications through his retirement from St. Louis University.

Dates

Creation: 1943-1975

Extent

2.71 Linear Feet (7 boxes)

Creator

Felix, Robert H. (Robert Hanna), 1904-1990 (Person)

Physical Location

Materials stored onsite. History of Medicine Division. National Library of Medicine

Language of Materials

Collection materials primarily in English

Access Restrictions

No restrictions on access.

Copyright and Re-use Information

Donor's copyrights were transferred to the public domain. Archival collections often contain mixed copyrights; while NLM is the owner of the physical items, permission to examine collection materials is not an authorization to publish. These materials are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study. It is the user's responsibility to research and understand any applicable copyright and re-publication rights not allowed by fair use. NLM does not grant permissions to publish.

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Biographical Note

Dr. Robert Hannah Felix, a psychiatrist and an authority on alcoholism and drug addiction, was the first director of the National Institute of Mental Health in 1949 until he retired from government service in 1964. He was also a former dean of the medical school at St. Louis University, president of the American Psychiatric Association in 1960-61 and a member of the World Health Organization's advisory panel on mental health from 1952 to 1978.

He was born on May 29, 1904, in Downs, Kan. He graduated from the University of Colorado Medical School in 1930 and completed his residency at the Colorado Psychopathic Hospital. He earned a master of public health degree at Johns Hopkins University.

Dr. Felix first joined the Public Health Service in 1933 as a psychiatrist and later became clinical director of the Medical Center for Federal Prisoners in Springfield, Mo., and the Federal narcotics treatment center at Lexington, Ky. During World War II he was a military psychiatrist and senior health officer at the United States Coast Guard Academy in New London, Conn. He returned to the Public Health Service in 1944 as assistant chief of the hospital division and was chief of the mental hygiene division until 1949. He helped develop the Mental Health Act of 1946, part of which created the National Institute of Mental Health.

After retiring from federal service in 1964, Dr. Felix became professor of psychiatry and dean of the medical school at St. Louis University until 1975 and retired as Dean Emeritus. From 1975 to 1985 he was research director of the Scottish Rite Psychophrenic Research Program in Lexington, Mass.

Dr. Felix was given the Rockefeller Public Service Award in 1961, the distinguished service award of the American Public Health Association and the American Psychiatric Association.