Hatem, George (1910-1988)
Dates
- Existence: 1910 - 1988
Parallel Names
- Hai-teh, Ma
- Ma, Haide
Biography
Dr. George Hatem (dates) was an American physician who devoted his medical career to eradicating venereal diseases and leprocy in China. He is widely credited with ridding China of most syphilis and gonorrhea, and had hoped to eliminate leprosy from the country by the year 2000. In mainland China, he was known as Dr. Ma Hai-teh or Ma Haide, meaning "virtue from overseas."
Shafick George Hatem was the son of Lebanese immigrants who grew up in Buffalo, New York. He received his medical degree from the University of Geneva in Switzerland. In 1933, he and two other doctors went to Shanghai to study tropical diseases. Hatem stayed in China the rest of his life.
Shortly after arriving in China, Hatem became friends with international journalist Edgar Snow. Mao Tse-tung requested a "Western-trained doctor and an honest journalist" after he became head of the Communist Party. Snow and Hatem crossed Nationalist army lines to meet with Chou En-lai, then Mao. Hatem returned to Shanghai when the Red Army took over China in 1949.
Information located here: https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-10-06-mn-4100-story.html
Found in 3 Collections and/or Records:
Dr. Dillard M. Eubank Papers
This collection was donated by Dr. Dillard M. Eubank's widow, Anna Louise Eubank. Dr. Eubank was a physician in China, 1944-1945, and the communist military capital of Yenan in 1945. He was born in China.
Eubank's papers include photographs, correspondence, and a 1945 reminiscence written of his time in Yenan.
