Carey Everett Floyd, Jr., PhD’81, died August 28 after a lengthy battle with cancer. He was 52. A passionate scientist, Floyd continued his scientific radiology and biomedical engineering work right up until his death. He was born in 1954 in Nashville, Tenn., received his undergraduate degree from Eckerd College in Florida, and his PhD in nuclear physics at Duke.

He took a post-doctoral fellowship at the Triangle Universities Nuclear Laboratories in 1982 and a subsequent fellowship at Duke in the Department of Radiology. Floyd became a full professor of radiology and biomedical engineering at Duke in 1997.

As an eminent scientist, Floyd made numerous significant contributions to the science of medical imaging. His early work included developing a pioneering method of reconstructing SPECT images known as the inverse Monte Carlo technique. He established one of the pre-eminent laboratories in the world in the field of computer-aided detection and diagnosis. One of his last research efforts was a novel combination of nuclear physics and medical imaging wherein neutrons are used to stimulate gamma emission for the imaging of trace elements in the body.

In recognition of his significant scientific contributions, Floyd was awarded a lifetime career achievement award from the Department of Radiology at Duke in July 2006. He was director of the Digital Imaging Research Division within the Department of Radiology at Duke from 1992 to 2004; co-director of the Duke Tumor Registry; and was involved in the establishment of the new medical physics graduate program at Duke. In recognition of his superb mentorship of students, a new graduate fellowship at Duke was established in his honor.

He is survived by his wife Elizabeth.

Charles Edwin Horton, MD, HS’52-’55, an internationally acclaimed humanitarian and renowned plastic surgeon, died of pancreatic cancer at his home in Suffolk, Va., on October 23 at the age of 81. He is survived by his wife of 56 years, Geraldine O’Brien, and five children.

In the early 1980s Horton established Physicians for Peace, an international humanitarian nonprofit organization that has conducted medical training missions in 50 developing countries. He trained generations of plastic surgeons from all over the world.

Horton received his medical degree from the University of Virginia in 1946 at age 21. He completed a general surgery residency at George Washington University Hospital and the U.S. Naval Medical Center and served as an officer in the Navy and Army. He discovered his calling to plastic surgery while performing surgeries on victims of the Korean War. He completed a plastic surgery residency at Duke University, gaining notoriety through an article published in the February 1955 issue of Time. At the time, plastic reconstructive surgery was in its infancy, with only about 150 plastic surgeons certified to practice in the U.S.

He began humanitarian service overseas in the early 1960s, conducting one of his first medical missions to Haiti. He moved to Norfolk in 1955 to begin his private practice as the region’s first plastic surgeon. Horton pioneered a number of techniques in the field, specializing in genitourinary reconstruction. He retired from private practice in 2000 to devote himself fulltime to Physicians for Peace. Last year, the organization completed 52 medical missions and donated more than $25 million in medical supplies and more than $2 million in medical services.

Horton served a number of academic medical institutions. At the Eastern Virginia Medical School, he held a number of positions, from professor of plastic surgery to founder and chairman of the division of plastic surgery. He also held faculty appointments as clinical professor of surgery at the Medical College of Virginia and clinical professor of plastic surgery at the University of Virginia School of Medicine. He authored more than 200 articles in medical literature, contributed some 100 chapters in medical textbooks, and authored three medical books.

Horton received many prestigious honors and appointments nationally and internationally for his contributions to medicine and humanitarianism. Jordan’s King Hussein and Queen Noor presented him with the Order of Independence, the highest civilian award given by their country. In 2004 the Charles E. Horton Chair of International Plastic Surgery was established at the University of Virginia.

Also in 2004 the Duke University Medical Alumni Association presented him with its humanitarian award.