We at the health department know him as Doc – a committed public health servant who has dedicated 27 years to our agency.  What few of us are aware of is his initiation into the public health arena, including 29 years in the Army Veterinary Corps where he conducted food inspections, sanitary inspections and practiced preventive medicine for thousands of enlisted men, spanning both the Korean and Vietnam Wars.  He retired with the rank of colonel in 1975.  Doc continued his work in public health with the Arkansas Department of Health (ADH) and, in 1976, became the director of the state meat inspection program.  He embraced the role of chief of veterinary health in 1980 and, in 1985, began service as Arkansas’ state epidemiologist.

Thomas C. McChesney graduated from Trinidad High School and attended Colorado State University, graduating with a doctorate in Veterinary Medicine in 1944.  Soon after, he was commissioned in the Army Veterinary Corps with the primary duties of procurement inspections of meat, poultry and dairy products for the Armed Forces.  He also provided care for government and privately owned animals, protecting public health from rabies, which required suspect human cases to receive post exposure treatment consisting of 26 injections.  In Puerto Rico, he provided the care and treatment for horses and diagnosed the first case of Piroplasmosis.

In September 1975, after discharge from the Army, Doc took a job at the health department with the state meat inspection program.  He was responsible for ensuring the safety of meat products that were distributed to communities throughout the state.

As the agency’s public health veterinarian, he provides consultations with state physicians for human rabies vaccination, maintains statistics on zoonotic diseases and responds to requests for information from ADH colleagues, community members and the media on all aspects of veterinary medicine and how it impacts public health in Arkansas.  He also consults with the U.S.D.A. Animal Health Office when needed and continues to serve as a member of the State Veterinary Medical Association.

Doc currently serves as ADH’s state epidemiologist, the epidemiology leader for the Central Region and continues his role as public health veterinarian.  His expertise spans many boundaries as is seen with his work with the heptachlor exposure investigation in 1986, when residues of the pesticide were identified in milk from dairy cows that had been fed contaminated grain in Arkansas, Missouri and Oklahoma.  Metabolites of heptachlor were found in dairy products and, as a result, human exposure occurred.  Nursing mothers were at-risk to this exposure and 925 human breast milk samples were analyzed.

Doc also served as a consultant when the area around Vertac, located in Jacksonville, was contaminated with approximately 30,000 barrels of dioxin.  State and federal agencies conducted health studies on residents in the area and the region became a Superfund site. 

Doc provided expertise in the environmental investigation at Great Lakes Chemical, the occupational exposure investigation at Willamette and the Mercury in Fish campaign.  As state epidemiologist, Doc is responsible for monitoring all aspects of communicable disease and environmental exposures that occur in the state.

When asked what was most important in his role with the agency, Doc replied, “Working for the health department has been a very rewarding career.  You are confronted with situations where you can assist people worried about illness and disease.”

Doc will be retiring at the end of September, leaving behind a legacy that can be matched by no other.  His wealth of knowledge and expertise cannot be replaced.  “I have worked with Doc for nearly twelve years. He is a fountain of knowledge in both environmental health and zoonotic diseases for all of us that have had the honor to spend time with him. In many ways, Doc belies his age. Always young at heart, he has the ability to keep up with people several decades his junior. I have seen Doc work a chemical spill with the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality at midnight and be at his desk at 7:30 the next morning. He has a never-ending curiosity about new diseases and environmental problems. Lastly, I think Doc will be missed the most as a mentor and friend to so many  people, including myself,” says Lewis Leslie, Agency Leadership Team member.

Doc plans on spending time in Colorado with his family and is considering getting back into the horse business.  Whatever his next endeavor may be, we wish him the best.  He will be missed by us all.

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