Remembering Lemuel Moyé, M.D., Ph.D.

The following is the text of an email sent on January 16, 2024.

The world lost an undisputed hero of public health on December 13, 2023 with the death of Dr. Lemuel Alexander Moyé. He leaves an extraordinary legacy of research, teaching, leadership, and humanitarianism.

Dr. Moyé received his M.D. at Indiana University School of Medicine in 1987. Following postdoctoral training at Purdue University, he earned a Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of Texas. For more than 30 years, he conducted federally funded research that included exploration of cell therapy to treat heart disease. An inexhaustible investigator, he published more than 220 articles and 11 books (including two novels), and was widely celebrated for his work—and subsequent publication on—supporting the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

In his years of service to the SPH-B Dean's Alliance, Dr. Moyé's expertise and enthusiasm for innovation led to vigorous collaboration and meaningful growth of the school's mission to improve health locally, nationally, and globally. He generously provided financial support to SPH-B initiatives—and established the Lem and Dixie Moyé Endowed Scholarship in Biostatistics at the University of Texas.

A physician, epidemiologist, and biostatistician, Dr. Moyé taught graduate-level classes in epidemiology and biostatistics for more than three decades and collaborated with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as well as pharmaceutical companies to pursue groundbreaking interventions in public health.

Perhaps most importantly, Dr. Moyé recognized and promoted the importance of compassion, integrity, and diplomacy in academia. In Finding Your Way in Science, he wrote:

Conversations are so easily facilitated by a simple and honest apology for any misunderstanding. We all know the fortunately rare and rarely fortunate scientist who believe that standing on principle gives him or her the right to be rude and offensive. Whenever it enters your mind to apologize, hold onto and act on that thought rather than dismiss it. Do not resist apologizing. A sincere apology goes a long way to smooth what may be a rough conversation. It doesn't mean that you have to give way on a matter of conviction. Apologizing simply reveals that you have the strength to recognize that you might have caused offense while standing your ground.