Leitch, Gordon B.

Canadian-born Gordon B. Leitch (M.Sci., M.D). got a B.S. at the U. of Saskatchewan, where he advocated the addition of a Medical College to the University there, and worked on the student and local newspapers. This led to a long career of involvement of the medico-political struggles of the day. He moved to Oregon for his medical education at UOMS, graduating as M.D. (1926). After graduation he spent a year as an Intern in China with the Rockefeller Foundation at the Peking Union Medical College (1926-27). Among other things, this led to his writing a book on "Chinese Rugs" (1935). He then pursued more study and experience in Europe prior to returning home.

He dabbled in politics with a run for a local school board seat (1942); but his career seemed focused on what he called an "extensive period of participation in medical association public policy committee affairs", in which he took a staunch conservative stand against any type of Socialized Medicine. His fears seemed well-founded to him when the Federal government instituted a major Conspiracy and Anti-trust suit against the Oregon Medical Association, local medical societies and local individual physicians (1949).

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