H. Norman Noe, MD

A self-described “country choir boy who made good,” Dr. H. Norman “Butch” Noe knew he wanted to be a physician after overcoming a childhood illness.
“This idea was solidified very early because of the relationship my family had with our family doctor,” says Noe, who was raised in Morristown, Tenn. Other than a brief stint in London for a medical fellowship in 1977, the Volunteer State is home for Noe and his childhood sweetheart and wife of almost 50 years, Diane Capps Noe.

The father of three and grandfather of seven received his undergraduate degree at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville in 1966. He completed medical school at the Health Science Center in 1969. The retired pediatric urologist four decade career spans across academia at the Health Science Center as well as chief urology appointments at prominent hospitals in West Tennessee, including St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and LeBonheur Children’s Hospital.

“At the time I went through my medical training,” explains Noe, “there was no such thing as pediatric urology. Le Bonheur was one of the few freestanding children’s hospitals in the country. Memphis represented a wonderful practice opportunity to build something that had never been.”

Pediatric urology was a detour in Noe’s medical journey. “I had always planned to practice general medicine or surgery,” he says, “but I feel in love with urology, specifically pediatrics, because those cases were always the most demanding. As opposed to adult procedures, when I repair a blockage in a child or rebuild genitalia, those children live with those results for 75 or 80 years. The impact is tremendous.”

With “primum non nocere,” a Latin phrase meaning “first, do no harm” imprinted within the crevices of his mind, Noe says when he spoke those words as part of the Hippocratic Oath “I realized as a physician I possessed great power and I needed to exercise it carefully each and every time for every one of my patients. Every doctor I trained heard this advice from me.”

While he jokes that retirement has brought him the freedom “to do as I please,” Noe realizes his professional journey would have been impossible with the unwavering love and support of his parents and his wife. He says, “Because of them I have been able to accomplish all that I have.”

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