The President today announced the appointment of T. Burton Smith to be Physician to the President. Dr. Smith replaces Dr. Daniel Ruge, who has returned to the Veterans Administration central office as Director of its Spinal Cord Injury Service.
Dr. Smith is a specialist in urology and has been one of the President's physicians for many years. He has been in private practice in California since 1951. He earned his undergraduate degree at the University of California in 1937 and his graduate degree at the University of Southern California in 1941. He was an intern in 1942-1943 at Los Angeles County General Hospital and was a resident in urology from 1946 to 1949 at Jefferson Medical College Hospital in Philadelphia, PA.
He served as urological consultant at the United States Veterans Hospital in west Los Angeles from 1950 to 1967 and as an assistant professor of urology (clinical) at the University of California, Los Angeles Medical School, during the same period. He is a past chief of the department of urology at St. John's Hospital and Santa Monica Hospital, both in Santa Monica. He is also past chief of staff at St. John's Hospital.
Dr. Smith was born August 26, 1915, in Hermosa Beach, CA. He is married to the former Kathleen Hambly and has four children. They will reside in the District of Columbia.
Note: On the same day, the White House announced the names of two Assistant Physicians: Dr. John E. Hutton, Jr., a colonel in the U.S. Army, and Dr. Kenneth Lee, a commander in the U.S. Navy. The White House also announced that Dr. Smith's appointment became effective on January 2.
Ronald Reagan, Appointment of T. Burton Smith as Physician to the President Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/260073