George Andrew Ulett, MD, PhD
George Andrew Ulett, M.D., Ph.D., served as director of the Missouri Division of Mental Diseases (later known as the Missouri Department of Mental Health) from 1961 – 1971, taking it from one of the worst-funded mental health programs to a national leader in mental health services. During Dr. Ulett’s administration, the number of patients treated increased from 7,000 to 45,000 individuals, financial support for the department nearly tripled, and hospitals and clinics were renovated and erected.
Working with the Missouri Institute of Psychiatry at the University of Missouri – St. Louis, Dr. Ulett was instrumental in developing a second department of psychiatry at the University of Missouri School of Medicine in Columbia. Here, Dr. Ulett trained 120 physicians for careers in public psychiatry.
As director of the Division of Mental Disease, Dr. Ulett established the first hospitals for mentally disturbed children, the first addiction and alcohol treatment programs, and the first community-based units for people with mental disabilities.
Before leading the division, Dr. Ulett had a distinguished 10-year career as a professor and researcher at Washington University School of Medicine and as medical director at Malcolm Bliss Mental Health Center in St. Louis in the 1950s. He has said that he is most proud of integrating African-American patients into state hospitals, establishing the first unit for integrated psychiatric treatment.
After serving as division director, Dr. Ulett returned to St. Louis to assume the role of director for the Department of Psychiatry at Deaconess Hospital. He has authored more the 250 articles and 11 books, and is one of the world’s leading researchers in acupuncture.
Dr. Ulett received his bachelor’s degree in psychology from Stanford University, his master’s degree from the University of Oregon, and his medical degree from the University of Oregon Medical School. He completed residencies at Harvard and Washington universities.
Dr. Ulett received awards from the Missouri Academy of General Practice in 1966, and the Missouri Association for Mental Health in 1970 for outstanding leadership in the improvement of mental health care. He has received additional awards for devoting his life to improving services for Missouri’s citizens with mental illnesses and developmental disabilities.
Dr. Ulett married Pearl Carolyn Lawrence, M.D., the only woman in the University of Oregon Medical School class of 1945. They have three children: Richard, Judith Ann and Carol Lynn.
Henry V. Guhleman Jr., M.D.
Henry V. “Hank” Guhleman Jr., M.D., was Missouri’s first director of the Division of Comprehensive Psychiatric Services in the Missouri Department of Mental Health. For 30 years Dr. Guhleman worked to enhance Missouri’s mental health services, helped clients through his private practice, and served as a clinical professor at the University of Missouri Medical School’s Department of Psychiatry.
Dr. Guhleman helped establish the current statewide network of community mental health centers and services and led efforts to develop the state’s first outpatient clinics, providing follow-up mental health services for those discharged from state hospitals.
An advocate of quality mental health services, Dr. Guhleman worked with state hospitals to meet regulatory requirements and improve services. He consulted with the National Institute of Mental Health, and was one of the principle writers of the federal standards for Medicaid and Medicare reimbursement. Traveling throughout the United States, Dr. Guhleman evaluated the quality of care provided by public and private hospitals for the federal government.
In 1945, Dr. Guhleman worked at the Phipps Psychiatric Clinic of Johns Hopkins Hospital, and later served in the military as the chief of neurology at Percy Jones General Hospital in Battle Creek, Mich. Following two years of military service, he worked as assistant chief of neurology at what is now the Boston VA Hospital, returning to Missouri in 1951.
Dr. Guhleman served on the Missouri Mental Health Commission from 1987-1991 as a member and as chairman. In 1985, the Guhleman Forensic Center at Fulton State Hospital was dedicated, honoring his 30 years of public mental health service to the people of Missouri.
A graduate of William Jewel College in Liberty, Mo., Dr. Guhleman spent two years at the University of Missouri before attending Washington University’s School of Medicine, where he received his medical degree. He completed his internship at the University of Maryland in Baltimore, where he met a nurse, Mary Florence Laws, who would later become his wife.
Born in Jefferson City in 1917, Dr. Guhleman’s father was in the lumber business, and his mother was a community volunteer. He married his wife, Florence, in 1945. He has a daughter, Patricia, of Madison, Wis.; a son, Stephen, of Jefferson City; and two grandchildren, Nathan and Sarah. Florence became an artist, whose works are displayed in many local banks, hospitals, and businesses. Always active and trying new things, Dr. Guhleman became a licensed amateur radio operator in his 70s.