Press release january 20, 2015

The Life of Dr. Henry S. Jennings, Jr.

Henry S. Jennings, Jr., M.D., was born in Cordele, Georgia, May 22, 1922, and spent his early childhood in both Cordele and Brunswick, Georgia. His family later moved to Dawson, Georgia, where he graduated from Dawson High School. He attended Emory-at-Oxford from 1939 to 1941 and graduated from Emory University in Atlanta with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1943. He was active in the Emory Glee Club and served as president of the Glee Club during his years at Emory-at-Oxford. He was a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity at Emory University.

After receiving his undergraduate degree, Dr. Jennings matriculated to Emory University School of Medicine where in 1945 he received his Doctor of Medicine degree. While at EUSM he was a member of Phi Chi Medical Fraternity.

Dr. Jennings subsequently served his internship in surgery at Grady Memorial Hospital, after which he fulfilled a commitment to the U.S. Army Air Corps at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, from 1946 to 1948. While at Lackland Field, he served as Chief of the Medical Service.

In 1948, Dr. Jennings returned to Atlanta and completed an assistant residency in Internal Medicine at Lawson VA Hospital under Chief of the Medical Service Max Michael, M.D. The following year, Dr. Jennings was invited to serve as Chief Resident at Emory University Hospital In 1951, Paul Beeson, M.D., asked Dr. Jennings to join Emory’s Private Diagnostic Clinic. Dr. Jennings subsequently became one of the seventeen original founding physicians of The Emory Clinic under the leadership of Hugh Wood, M.D.

Dr. Jennings remained at The Emory Clinic until 1953 when he decided to move his young family from Atlanta to a smaller community in which to practice medicine. Initially he had planned to begin his new medical practice in Moultrie, GA, and came extremely close to re-locating there. However, several of his Emory-trained colleagues were already practicing medicine in Hall County, GA. These physician-friends persuaded Dr. Jennings to change his plans and move instead to Gainesville to establish his own practice of internal medicine - joining the growing medical community at Hall County Hospital, later to become the Northeast Georgia Medical Center. Dr. Jennings and his family set down roots in Gainesville – roots that remain intact to this day.

Dr. Jennings' original solo practice office was a small brick house on Broad Street near the recently built Hall County Hospital facility. But his early medical practice also took him on “house calls” to the homes of his patients all over Northeast Georgia. In 1954, Dr. Jennings became the first board-certified internist at Hall County Hospital. He was soon joined by Emory colleagues Samuel O. Poole, M.D., and Warren D. Stribling, III, M.D. Together these three formed the initial core partnership of physicians known as “Jennings, Stribling, and Poole.” Shortly thereafter James Butts, M.D., joined the trio and the practice became “Jennings, Stribling, Poole, and Butts.” Growing steadily in physicians and patients over the decades, the practice eventually became the highly respected Northeast Georgia Diagnostic Clinic, consisting today of over thirty physicians (along with ten mid-level care providers) specializing in internal medicine along with numerous internal medicine sub-specialties.

In addition to the responsibilities of his medical practice, Dr. Jennings has always been very active in local, state, and national medical organizations over the past 60+ years. He served as Chief of the Medical Staff at Hall County Hospital/Northeast Georgia Medical Center; President of the Hall County Medical Society; Vice President of the Medical Association of Georgia; and President of the Georgia Society of Internal Medicine. Dr Jennings was Charter Member and subsequently President of the Georgia Heart Association. Additionally, he served as Delegate for the Georgia Heart Association to American Medical Association meetings on several occasions. He was an active member of the Southern Medical Association and the American College of Physicians. Deeply dedicated to the education of healthcare providers, Dr. Jennings was for years on the adjunct faculty of Hall School of Nursing – which later became Brenau University School of Nursing – and continues to be so proud of the many, many nursing students who were greatly influenced by his professional guidance as they became healthcare providers themselves.

Additionally, Dr. Jennings served on the Organizational Steering Committee for the Appalachian Georgia Health Systems Agency. He was a former District Medical Consultant for Vocational Rehabilitation. He was also instrumental in the formation of the Gainesville Heart Clinic in the 1950s, under the aegis of the Georgia Heart Association, which served patients of the area with cardiac disorders who did not have commercial insurance/access to adequate cardiology care. He served as Chairman of the Clinic Committee of the GHA, supervising and traveling to similar heart clinics throughout the State of Georgia, including Dalton, Valdosta, Waycross, Brunswick, and Athens in addition to the Gainesville Heart Clinic where he volunteered his services several hours every Tuesday.

Involvement in numerous community organizations and civic efforts in Hall County and Northeast Georgia has also been a high priority for Dr. Jennings over the years. He has served faithfully in many leadership roles of his church – Gainesville First United Methodist - including Chairman of the Administrative Board. He has also served on numerous other local boards, including the Board of Directors of the Rotary Club of Gainesville; Board of Commissioners of the Georgia Housing Authority; Board of Trustees of the Gainesville-Hall County Hospital Authority; Board of Trustees for Brenau University (25 years); Board of Directors of the Gainesville National Bank; Advisory Board of Directors for First Atlanta National Bank; Board of Trustees/Vice Chairman for Northeast Georgia Health Systems; Advisory Board of Directors for Wachovia Bank; Medical Advisor to the U.S. Social Security Administrative Law Judges; Board of Directors for Lanier Village Estates/ ACTS Retirement Community (and so proud of being among those on the Founding Committee of LVE).