DuBois, Richard
DUBOIS, Richard Eugene
Dr. Richard E. DuBois went home to be with the Lord on May 11, 2021 in Atlanta, GA. He was born in Detroit, Michigan on January 14, 1938 and spent most of his childhood and early adult years in Buffalo, NY before moving to Atlanta, GA to complete his medical residency in infectious disease. He was preceded in death by his father, Joseph DuBois, his mother, Virginia I. DuBois, and his sister, Dr. Shirley J. Carey. He is survived by his loving wife of 45 years, Janet H. DuBois. He is also survived by his three sons, David, Joseph, and James and daughter, Laura as well as grandchildren; siblings – Dr. Dennis DuBois and Dr. Debianne Peterman; and numerous nieces and nephews.
Dr. DuBois retired in 2005 after 42 years in practice. He is board certified in Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases. During the Vietnam war, he completed the Naval course in tropical medicine and became the director of the medical wards of Da Nang Naval Hospital and Naval Hospital Ship Repose (AH16). After the war, he completed his infectious disease training at Emory University, Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta and became the first physician to be in the private practice of infectious diseases. Rather than focus on consultative infectious diseases, his practice was office-based Internal Medicine and hospital-based consultative infectious disease.
He became Chief of Internal Medicine and Chief of Staff at Georgia Baptist Hospital (now known as Atlanta Medical Center). Then HIV/AIDS appeared explosively on the medical scene. His practice from 1980 to 2005 was primarily HIV/AIDs related. He was the founder and long-time president of the Infectious Diseases Society of Georgia and was a charter member of AID Atlanta. Dr. DuBois was appointed as the first medical director of the CDC's first Maximum Containment Treatment facility which was a "Vickers Unit" placed in what was then the Georgia Baptist Medical Center. With his retirement, the unit was moved and upgraded to the facility at Emory University Hospital where the Ebola patients were successfully treated.
Dr. DuBois' career is highlighted with many awards, honors, and accolades of prestige from his medical colleagues. He is past president of the Medical Association of Atlanta and has held national medical offices and published numerous peer reviewed manuscripts in medical journals. He was selected as one of the "Best Doctors in America" every year since 1994 and in surveys by Atlanta Magazine, the doctors of Atlanta chose Dr. DuBois as the doctor they would choose for their own care if they themselves were sick with an infectious disease, including HIV. He was awarded the Award of Excellence in Teaching at Atlanta Medical Center where he was also chosen as the "Most Valuable Physician" and re-elected for eight years as Chief of Internal Medicine. He served on staff there for 36 years. He was named a Paul Harris Fellow by the Rotary Foundation of Rotary International. His retirement from active medical practice allowed him to accept the position of Medical Advisor for Research at the Juice Plus+ Company®.
His family and friends will greatly miss his warmth, compassion, and good sense of humor, but are eternally grateful for the many contributions he made to the health of so many he touched during his life. An intimate celebration of life service will be held in the near future. In lieu of flowers, please donate in the name of Dr. Richard E. DuBois to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital at 262 Danny Thomas Place, Memphis, TN 38105.
