Dr. Stephen Threlkeld, Baptist Memorial Health Care’s medical director of infectious diseases, contributed to a case study published on Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine titled “Case 1-2026: A 50-Year-Old Woman With Fever and Abdominal Pain.”
The case study, published in Vol. 394, No. 2 of the journal, is part of a century-old series called “Case Records of the Massachusetts General Hospital.” It explores clinical cases that challenge physicians.
Threlkeld has fond memories of the series. “I can remember sitting in my father’s lap as a child while he read the Case Records articles in the New England Journal of Medicine,” said Threlkeld. “It was an honor to have the opportunity to participate.”
Threlkeld is the first doctor in Memphis to participate in a New England Journal of Medicine case study since Dr. Eustace Semmes, who founded Semmes Murphey Clinic with Dr. Francis Murphey, in 1946. Semmes worked with Baptist Memorial Hospital at the time of the case study and throughout his career. He also served as professor and chairman of the Department of Neurosurgery at the University of Tennessee.
