Robert J.T. JL, M.D., COLL, MC, USA, (RET.), Professor Emeritus
Dr. Joy received a B.S. from the University of Rhode Island (1950); an M.D. from Yale University (1954), an M.A. from Harvard University (1965), and is a graduate of the Armed Forces Staff College (1968). He was trained in Internal Medicine at Walter Reed General Hospital and held a Research Fellowship at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR).
He served in the Army from 1954 to 1981, rising from First Lieutenant to Colonel. He was a Medical Platoon Leader and Battalion Surgeon, founding commander of the Institute of Environmental Medicine, commander of the WRAIR Research Team in Vietnam, and Director of the WRAIR. He held senior staff positions in medical research in the Office of the Army Surgeon General and the Office of the Secretary of Defense. In 1976 he founded the Department of Military Medicine at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences and was also the first Commandant. Retiring from the Army in 1981 he founded the USUHS Section, later Department of Medical History. In 1996 he became Professor Emeritus of Medical History at USUHS.
Dr. Joy is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians, of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, and is a member of a number of clinical, scientific and historical societies, serving in leadership positions in several of them. He has held over 60 named lectureships and visiting professorships in the U.S. and in England, Canada, Israel, Germany, and Australia. He served on several editorial boards and as editor of the Journal of the History of Medicine. Internationally recognized as an expert in military medical history he has published over 125 articles, chapters and reviews.
He has been awarded the Distinguished Service Medal, four awards of the Legion of Merit, the Air Medal, several commendation and campaign medals and flight surgeon's wings.
He is a recipient of the Osler Medal in medical history, the Hoff Medal and the Billings Award in military medicine, The Hunter Award in tropical medicine, the Kern Award for the Association of Military Surgeons of the U.S., the Clements Award in military education, the Outstanding Civilian Educator Award from USUHS, and several awards for teaching from USUHS students. He is on the faculty of the USAF School of Aerospace Medicine and of the Industrial College of the Armed Forces.