| George Hughes Kirby | |||||||||
| Birth Place: | Goldsboro, North Carolina, U.S. | ||||||||
| Death Place: | New Hampshire, U.S. | ||||||||
| Nationality: | American | ||||||||
| Alma Mater: | University of North Carolina (B.A.) Long Island College Hospital (M.D.) | ||||||||
| Profession: | physician and psychiatrist, | ||||||||
| Field: | psychiatry | ||||||||
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| Notable Works: | classification of psychoses | ||||||||
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George Hughes Kirby (1875–1935) was an American physician and psychiatrist, administrator, and educator, who contributed to the advancement of psychiatry in the United States.
Kirby was born in Goldsboro, North Carolina, the son of a physician who was superintendent of the state mental hospital in Goldsboro. He attended the public schools of Goldsboro, then enrolled in the University of North Carolina, earned his nomination to Phi Beta Kappa, and graduated with a B.A. in 1896. His medical training was at the Long Island College Hospital in New York, and he earned his M.D. in 1899. He worked under Adolph Meyer at the Worcester State Hospital in Massachusetts. In 1902, when Meyer became director of the New York State Psychiatric Institute, located on Wards Island, Kirby went with him and was hired at the Manhattan State Hospital. In 1908, Kirby was appointed director of Clinical Psychiatry at the Manhattan State Hospital. During his years with Meyer, Kirby went to Germany and studied with Emil Kraepelin, professor of clinical psychiatry at the University of Munich.
While at the Manhattan State Hospital, Kirby developed a classification of psychoses which was expanded as a statistical guide for use in the New York State mental hospitals. The American Psychiatric Association adopted Kirby's classification. He also developed staff education courses for use in state mental hospitals.
In 1917, the New York State Hospital Commission appointed Kirby as medical inspector, but after four months he left this position to assume the directorship of the New York State Psychiatric Institute when Meyer left. Kirby was an active participant in planning the move of the New York State Psychiatric Institute from Wards Island to the Columbia University Medical Center and he was involved in the construction of the new building. He held the post of director until he retired in 1931.
During World War I, Kirby was a Major in the U.S. Army and commanded the hospital established in New York City to care for mentally disabled soldiers. The U.S. Public Health Service appointed him as a consultant. Kirby served as a professor of psychiatry at several medical schools in New York: from 1914 to 1919, he was Adjunct Professor of Mental Diseases at New York University and Bellevue Medical College; from 1917 to 1932, he was professor of psychiatry at Cornell University Medical College; and from 1927 to 1932 he was professor of psychiatry at the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University.
Kirby played an active role in numerous professional organizations: the New York Neurological Society (president), the American Neurological Association, the American Psychopathological Association, the American Psychiatric Association (president, 1933–34), the New York Society for Clinical Psychiatry, the New York Academy of Medicine, and the board of directors of the National Committee for Mental Hygiene. He served on numerous editorial boards, including those of the American Journal of Psychiatry and Psychiatric Quarterly. The University of North Carolina honored him with an LL.D. in 1929.
Kirby died in 1935 while on vacation in New Hampshire.
United States