Remembering Walter Ingram
JULY 2022
The Department of Surgery is deeply saddened to announce the passing of Walter L. Ingram, MD, on July 26, 2022. Dr. Ingram was a valued and beloved faculty member for over thirty years in the Department's Trauma/Surgical Critical Care team at Grady Memorial Hospital and Medical Director of the Grady Memorial Hospital Burn Center.
Prior to enrolling in medical school at the University of Texas Health Science Center in 1982, Dr. Ingram was an aerospace engineer at McDonnell Douglas Technical Service Company in Houston, TX, an aerospace manufacturing corporation and defense contractor that counted NASA among its clients. His primary job description was calculating mathematical modeling for orbit determination for space shuttle navigation.
Upon obtaining his MD degree, Dr. Ingram completed his general surgery residency and trauma/burn fellowship at Emory. In 1992, the year his fellowship concluded, he was named Medical Director of the Grady Burn Center. Under his leadership, the center nearly doubled in size, maintained its status as the only comprehensive burn center in Atlanta, and became one of the most highly rated burn programs in the country. By the mid-2000s, the center's annual service volume had increased to some 3,500 adult and pediatric burn patients.
Dr. Ingram was the embodiment of the patient-centered physician, a trait that was dramatically highlighted when circumstances caused him to be the Burn Center's only attending for both pediatric and adult burn care from September 2013 through September 2014, with his responsibilities encompassing 448 acute inpatient admissions. This type of commitment was recognized throughout his career, most notably by his receipt of the Grady Health Foundation's Senior Sage Award at the 2013 White Coat Grady Gala, and him being the physician category winner in the Atlanta Business Chronicle's 16th Annual Health-Care Heroes Awards that same year.
Having a heartfelt commitment to quality improvement as a never-ending process, Dr. Ingram dedicated himself to fine-tuning the center's capabilities. He standardized wound care protocols, expanded hydrotherapy facilities, upgraded and refined pain control processes, initiated services for patients with complex wound problems secondary to burns, and developed his own patient registry and outcomes database. He was also a driving force in the center's sustained verification from the American Burn Association, the highest recommendation a burn center can receive.
Rotations on the Burn Center became a core feature of the general surgery residency, and Dr. Ingram initiated the burn fellowship in 2012. He was well known for his genial devotion to imparting his knowledge to what became hundreds of trainees, and displayed an extraordinary work ethic for all to follow.
Our deepest sympathies are with Dr. Ingram's family, from whom he derived great delight and joy. Memorial arrangements will be communicated as they become available. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that contributions be considered to the Educational Fund for Dr. Ingram's children.