Bruce Dean Tempest was born in 1935 in Catasauqua, Pennsylvania and grew up in the small, rural farming community. He graduated from Lafayette College in 1957 and the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in 1961. Following a residency in Internal Medicine and a fellowship in Immunology and Allergy, Dr. Tempest moved his family to the U.S. Public Health Service Indian Hospital in Tuba City, Arizona, where he was Chief of Internal Medicine and Clinical Director from 1967-1970. From 1970-1971, Dr. Tempest was Chief of Internal Medicine at the U.S. PHS Indian Medical Center in Gallup, New Mexico. From 1970-1976, he was the Clinical Director of the Pneumococcal Surveillance Program at the Gallup Indian Medical Center. From 1971-1991, Dr. Tempest also held a clinical appointment at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine and from 1983 through the time of this interview, he was the Tuberculosis Control Physician at the Gallup center. In 1983, Dr. Tempest was given the Indian Health Service Clinician of the Year Award. From 1985-1996, he was a Senior Consultant in Internal Medicine at the Navajo Area Office of the Indian Health Service. In 1996, Dr. Tempest retired from the U.S. Public Health Service.
From his first day in Tuba City when he when was met by the single remaining physician and asked to see a patient with plague, Dr. Tempest treated infectious diseases not usually seen in the eastern part of the United States. Pneumonia, tuberculosis and a diphtheria outbreak helped encourage him to sponsor a TB conference with western health care providers involved in the same type of work. The conference evolved into a yearly occurrence which allowed for networking and practice cross-fertilization. In 1993, Dr. Tempest was a major figure in the identification of Hantavirus in an outbreak in the Four Corners area of the United States.
From the guide to the Bruce D. Tempest Oral History Collection, 1998, (New Mexico Health Historical Collection UNM Health Sciences Library and Informatics Center.)
