Distinguished Alumni Award

Dr. Gene Ragland started his higher education at Central Michigan University earning a Bachelor of Science in 1966. Gene then attended the University of Michigan Medical School and received a MD degree in 1970. Next, was an internship at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital (SJMH) in Ann Arbor. He became a licensed physician and enlisted in the U. S. Navy Reserve as a Lieutenant in the Medical Corp and served one year each at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and at the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland before an honorable discharge in 1974. Dr. Ragland returned to SJMH for a residency in Internal Medicine serving as Chief Resident for a year. He became Board Certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine.

Gene started a full-time career in Emergency Medicine at SJMH in 1977. He was a pioneer in Emergency Medicine working his first solo shift 6 years before it was recognized as a specialty in 1979. His career in Emergency Medicine spanned 25 years. Gene was an author in the first-ever educational publication by the American College of Emergency Physicians, two, three-ring binder notebooks. He was a contributor to its bound book successors from 1985 to 2000. Gene became an examiner for the American Board of Emergency Medicine from 1982 to 2000. He received his own Board Certification in Emergency Medicine. At SJMH, Gene was Medical Director of the Emergency Center from 1985 to 1997 and was Associate Director of the Emergency Department from 1985 to 2000. Dr. Ragland attended 130,000 patients during his career.

Gene had a faculty appointment at the University of Michigan Medical School and was a Clinical Instructor, Department of Surgery from 1981 to 1994 and a Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of Emergency Medicine from 1994 to 2001.

Other contributions to the early practice of emergency medicine included being a founder of Life Support Services (LSS) in 1983. LSS provided emergency medical education to hundreds of hospital and pre-hospital providers. In 1992, Dr. Ragland was a founder of SecureCare providing correctional medical care to inmates in jails, prisons, and juvenile detention centers.

Dr. Ragland was a leader in the medical community serving as President of the Washtenaw County Medical Society in 1993, as Chief of Staff at SJMH in 1996-97 followed by President of the Huron Valley Physicians Association (HVPA) from 1997 to 2000. HVPA was an Independent Practice Association with 850 physician members from SJMH and UM Hospitals. HVPA worked cooperatively with the hospitals to provide managed care services to 120,000 patients.

Dr. Ragland was also a leader in many community-related activities. He was a member of the Domestic Violence Project-SAFE House Board for 13 years and served on the Dawn Farm Board, a provider of comprehensive rehabilitation services for victims of drug and alcohol abuse, for 6 years. He founded the first in the state hospital-based Physician Wellness Committee to assist physicians impaired from drug or alcohol abuse, psychological or age-related impairment. Gene was a founder, chairman, and member of the College of Health Profession Advisory Board at Central Michigan University from 2000 to 2004. He was also a Trustee on the Ann Arbor Township Board from 2002 to 2006. His last public service was as a member of the Ann Arbor City Council Medical Marijuana Licensing Board in 2011.

Dr. Ragland has received several recognitions for his contributions and accomplishments. In 1995, he received a Spirit Award from Mercy International Health Services in recognition for a consultation in Guam in 1990 and as a keynote speaker at an international emergency medicine conference in Saudi Arabia in 1993. Gene also received a Washtenaw Council of Alcoholism Spirit Award in 1997 for his work with Dawn Farm and on physician wellness. Dr.Ragland was given an Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award from Who’s Who in America in 2019 and was named the 2020 Distinguished Alumni from Central Michigan University.