Dr. James "Red" Duke was a 1960 medical school graduate of UT Southwestern who went on to serve as an intern and surgical resident at Parkland Memorial Hospital from 1960 to 1963. Dr. Duke was one of the physicians to operate on Governor John Connally when he was wounded in the shooting that killed President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963. He served on the faculty in the Department of Surgery from 1965 to 1970. Dr. Duke then served on the faculty at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and, while there, spent two years as a visiting professor in Afghanistan. Upon returning from Afghanistan in 1972, Dr. Duke joined the faculty of the University of Texas Medical School at Houston. During his career in Houston, Dr. Duke established Hermann Hospital's Life Flight operations, the second helicopter air medical program in the U.S.