Pathology Department
1934-2023
Dr. Charles Key, 89, died peacefully at home on October 10, 2023. He is survived by his beloved wife of sixty-five years, three children, twelve grandchildren, and a growing number of great-grandchildren.
Charles R. Key, M.D., Ph.D., attended the University of Oklahoma Medical Center, where he received M.S., M.D. (class of 1959), M.P.H. and Ph.D. degrees and also completed an internship and residency in anatomic pathology and clinical pathology. As a commissioned officer in the U.S. Public Health Service, he was assigned to an air pollution research laboratory in Cincinnati and to the Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission in Hiroshima, Japan.
Arriving for service in the still young Department of Pathology in 1969, Dr. Key played a major role in many of the department's and school of medicine's programs, including planning and implementing the UNM Cancer Research and Treatment Center, the NM Tumor Registry, the NM Office of the Medical Investigator, the Uranium Epidemiology study, the NM Clean Indoor Air Act, the NM Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program, the NM Mammography Project, the Los Alamos Cancer Rate Study, the U.S./U.S.S.R. Joint Working Group on Cancer Epidemiology, and the first UNM School of Medicine problem-based learning experiment. He was acting Chair of the UNM Department of Pathology for over two years and Interim Director of the UNM Cancer Center for one year. He received numerous American Cancer Society and NM Department of Health Community Service Awards, as well as the UNM Regents’ Meritorious Service Medal and the National Cancer Institute (NCI) SEER Lifetime Achievement Award.
After 35 years of service, Charlie retired on July 1, 2004, as Professor Emeritus of Pathology, and continued to work part time at UNM.
