Perry C. Talkington, M.D.

Dr. Talkington was born in Waco, Texas. He began his college education at Howard College in Birmingham (1926–27) before transferring to Baylor College (1927–30), where he later attended medical school, graduating in 1934. He completed his internship at Howat Hospital in Erie, Pennsylvania (1934–35) and pursued a psychiatric residency at Taunton State Hospital in Massachusetts (1935–37). He then continued his training with a neurology residency at the Philadelphia Orthopedic Hospital and Infirmary for Nervous Diseases (1937–38). Upon completing his education, he returned to Dallas to join the staff at Timberlawn, a private psychiatric hospital.

Dr. Talkington played a significant role in the field of psychiatry, serving as psychiatrist-in-chief and chairman of the board of directors at Timberlawn Psychiatric Hospital in Dallas, chief of psychiatry at Baylor University Medical Center, and a faculty member at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. He was also a founding fellow of the American College of Psychiatry. His contributions to the American Psychiatric Association were extensive, including serving as district branch president (1965–66), recorder and speaker of the Assembly of District Branches (1969–70), and chairman of the APA Task Force on Prepaid Health Insurance (1962–69). He later served as President of the American Psychiatric Association from 1972 to 1973.