Charles Whelan Jr

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Charles Whelan Jr (born July 9, 1873 in Gallion, Hale County; died January 28, 1939) was Birmingham City Physician from about 1899 to 1916.

Whelan was the son of Charles Whelan, who practiced as a physician in Birmingham from 1880 to 1898. He graduated from Birmingham's Bellevue Academy and to complete a bachelors degree at Georgetown University and to study medicine at the University of Virginia and University of Alabama, graduating in 1896.

Whelan opened his practice in Birmingham that year and married Lizzie Sanders that November. He was elected City Physician, with responsibilities for public health and sanitation as well as the care of prisoners at the Birmingham City Jail. In 1904 Whelan appointed twelve physicians to carry out a city ordinance requiring smallpox vaccinations be administered to anyone who could not provide evidence of being vaccinated in the preceding seven years. He was re-elected to the position continuously until he resigned in 1916 to pursue private practice.

After leaving the city's employ, Whelan served as welfare director for the American Radiator Company until 1929 and served as president of the Medical Association of Alabama. He was appointed to the United States Parole Commission in 1935. Whelan suffered a cerebral hemorrhage in January 1939 and died after a few days.

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