WHAT'S INSIDE

In Memory of
Betty Lou Bottoms Grundy, MD

Betty Lou Bottoms Grundy, MD, age 77 of Gainesville, Florida, passed away Sunday, June 11, 2017, after a prolonged illness. She was born on January 3, 1940 in Dothan, Alabama, the oldest of five children of Wilmer Rudolph Bottoms and Marie Brandon Bottoms. As the children of an Army chaplain, Betty and her siblings grew up in Florida, South Carolina, Georgia, and Germany. 

Betty attended Huntingdon College in Montgomery, Alabama, leaving a year early to attend medical school at the University of Florida. She graduated near the top of her class in 1963, one of the first women graduates from the College of Medicine. The same month that she graduated, Betty married the love of her life, David Mather Grundy, on June 3, 1963 in Gainesville. 

A pioneer for women in medicine, Betty first worked as the company doctor for the Homestake Gold Mine in South Dakota – hired after being told, “We don’t really want a woman doctor, but we’re desperate.” She completed her anesthesiology residency in Boston and entered private practice in Saginaw, Michigan. With a passion for teaching and research, Betty soon went into academic medicine. After assistant professorships at Case Western Reserve and the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Medicine, Betty was appointed in 1982 as the chief of anesthesiology at Oral Roberts University School of Medicine in Tulsa, Oklahoma — one of the first female department chairs in the country. Betty returned to the University of Florida in 1984, as a professor in the department of anesthesiology and chief of anesthesia services at the Veterans’ Administration Medical Center, where she had a special concern for the care of elderly veterans. 

Betty contributed immensely to the specialty of neuroanesthesia. She led numerous research studies and generated a prolific list of publications, contributing to preserved brain function in thousands of patients today. She also passionately taught resident anesthesiologists throughout her career, serving as an examiner for the American Board of Anesthesiology and as a visiting professor at anesthesia departments throughout the country. Betty cared immensely about fostering high standards of medicine, recognizing the vital contributions of nurse anesthetists, mentoring her students, and most of all, about each patient entrusted to her care. She retired in 1994 from the University of Florida due to health reasons.