abstract
| - The story centers on Dr. Rex Morgan, who moved in 1948 to the fictional small town of Glenwood to take over a late friend's practice. Helping him grapple with a dizzying array of medical problems is his old friend's office manager and nurse, June Gale. Morgan and Gale collaborated in resolving the medical and emotional problems of patients and friends over the years. They finally married in 1995, and had their first child, a daughter they named Sarah June Morgan, several years later. The two now operate their own free clinic. The Morgans have a dog named Abbey. The strip has long been praised for its blunt tackling of social issues and taboo subjects, such as drug abuse, domestic violence, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, diabetes, organ transplants, adoption and sexual harassment. The story's constant realism about these issues has led groups such as the Leahy Foundation to use Rex Morgan as a teaching tool. In the case of the Leahy Foundation, the strip has been used to teach their students about epilepsy at Harvard University. In recent years, the story plots have moved away from strictly medical themes, as Rex and June alternate in stories, confronting threats and danger from a variety of malfeasants. A popular story took place in 2006, in which longtime character Dr. Troy Gainer was revealed to be a fraud. Dallis claimed he created the strip to inform the general public about medical issues in an entertaining manner. For instance, one continuity from the early 1970s depicted the plight of an attractive young woman who frequently experienced gaps of "missing time": Morgan swiftly diagnosed her as suffering from petit mal, an obscure but genuine form of epilepsy. Reportedly, some readers accurately diagnosed themselves with illnesses after reading about those same illnesses in the strip. Dallis went on to create the equally long-running strips Apartment 3-G and Judge Parker.
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