We are so saddened to inform you that Dennis McCullough, MD died unexpectedly, Friday June 3rd in Bar Harbor, Maine while attending a conference.
Dennis was a beloved and deeply engaged member of both the Department of Community and Family Medicine and the larger Upper Valley community for over thirty years as a practicing family physician and geriatrician. His work extended to every corner of the globe following the publication of his well known book My Mother, Your Mother: Embracing “Slow Medicine” the Compassionate Approach to Caring for Your Aging Loved Ones, in 2008 by Harper Collins. Most recently, Dennis was a co-founder with Laurie Harding of the Upper Valley Community Nursing Project in 2012 and has worked tirelessly to promote the development and engagement of the ‘parish’ nurse into community care. He remained actively involved in a multiplicity of community and academic projects within the department, serving as a consultant to the Dartmouth Centers for Health and Aging and as a community geriatric consultant to the department. Many friends and colleagues sought Dennis’s wise counsel across an extensive array of projects and he co-founded the Mandela Group at Geisel with Joe O’Donnell. ‘The Mandela’s’ as they have become known have continued to serve in a wide array of advisory capacities to the medical center, the medical school and the larger community engaged in community health concerns.
Dennis joined the department in 1986 and served many roles throughout his tenure, including Chief Clinical Officer from 1992-2002, member of the Board of Governors at DHMC and member of the Board of Directors at the Hitchcock Clinic during the same time frame. He served as clerkship director for both the Family Medicine clerkship and the Primary Care combined clerkship from 1994-2002 and as President of the medical staff at Alice Peck Day (APD) Hospital from 1980-1982. He founded the Family Health Center at APD and was in practice there from 1975-1983, returning after his faculty development fellowship from 1986-1991
Dennis was educated at Harvard College and Harvard Medical School, graduating in 1972. He completed a rotating internship at Swedish Hospital Medical Center in Seattle, Washington in 1973 and subsequently a Family Medicine residency at the University of Western Ontario in 1975 and a faculty development fellowship in Family Medicine at the University of North Carolina in 1983-1984. He was a recipient of numerous awards for his community and geriatric work and was named the New Hampshire Physician of the Year in 2010.
Dennis was an avid athlete. Well known in the Upper Valley for his tennis prowess, he was also captain of the hockey team at Harvard and played baseball there as well. It has been noted by many that he was “grace in motion”!
Dennis lived in Norwich with his wife Pamela Harrison, a well-known poet who published in many literary journals and has written for the Valley News. He was known and loved as friend and colleague, and his network of influence extends widely. We will miss him deeply. Our hearts and prayers are with Pamela and his extended family and friends.
A memorial service is scheduled for Friday June 10th at 6 pm at the Norwich Congregational Church.
A website has been set up for messages of condolence and for further information about the service at https://www.caringbridge.org/visit/dennismccullough
Cathleen E. Morrow MD
Associate Professor and Chair
Dept. of Community and Family Medicine
Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth
Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center
1 Medical Center Drive
Lebanon NH 03756
