Though born in Parsons, Kansas, Dr. Levi Watkins Jr. is remembered for his pioneering work in cardiac surgery at Johns Hopkins University Hospital in Baltimore. In remembrance of his life and work, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake recently signed a bill naming a fountain in Patterson Park after him.
Watkins died earlier this year from complications of a heart attack and a stroke at the age of 70.
Watkins was also a civil rights activist, participating in the Montgomery Bus Boycott in Alabama in 1955. He was even a part-time driver for the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who was his family’s pastor. After graduating from Tennessee State University, he was rejected by the University of Alabama School of Medicine because he was Black. He applied to and was accepted at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, and became the first Black person to receive a medical degree from that university.
Watkins began his medical residency at Johns Hopkins Hospital in 1971 and became the school’s first Black chief resident in cardiac surgery. He spent two years at Harvard Medical School starting in 1973, where his research helped pave the way for treating congestive heart failure with angiotensin blockers. In 1980 he became the first surgeon to successfully implant an automatic heart defibrillator in a human patient.
Watkins also worked to ensure that other Blacks attended Hopkins by joining the admissions committee in 1979. His work on that committee is credited with drastically increasing the number of Blacks at the institution. A total of 121 students graduated while he was on the committee, 14 of whom were Black; an increase of 400 percent from earlier numbers, according to the university.
Watkins was a supporter of Patterson Park and co-founded the Wine-Tasting at Sunset Fundraiser for the park. The fountain, which will be named the Dr. Levi Watkins, Jr. Memorial Fountain, is located at the entrance of park at Patterson Park Avenue and Lombard Street.
“Dr. Watkins’ life of service and distinction deserves honor and recognition,” Ernest W. Burkeen Jr., director of the city’s Department of Recreation and Parks, wrote to the City Council in support of the change.