Evelyn J. Basile-Gay oral history collection

Collection

Identifier: HHC 105

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

This interview with Dr. Evelyn J. Basile (1917-2009), a board certified pediatrician of Las Cruces, New Mexico, discusses her life and career as a New Mexico physician. Among the subjects discussed in this interview are Dr. Basile's medical education and post-graduate training experiences; the Las Cruces medical community in the early 1950's; Memorial Hospital's general lack of a pediatric unit and her establishment of a nursery for premature infants; osteopathic and ancillary health professionals in Las Cruces; long-distance consultations; public health "well-baby" clinics; sanitation concerns during the polio epidemic in the early 1950's; the first exchange transfusion in Las Cruces; and others.

Dates

1989 November 24

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Limited duplication of print materials allowed for research purposes. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.

Biographical / Historical

Dr. Evelyn J. Basile (1917-2009) was a board certified pediatrician in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Attending medical school when women physicians were few, she found her internship and residency experiences altered and accelerated because of World War II. In 1951 she and her surgeon husband, Remo Gay, Sr., M.D. left New York City to relocate in Las Cruces at the urging of Andrew Babey, M.D. After some 25 years of private practice, Dr. Basile worked at New Mexico State University's Student Health Care Center for 12 years, retiring in 1987.