Dr. Joseph B. Parker Jr., served in the medical corps of the United States Navy Reserve for four years during World War II. He first came to Duke University medical school to complete his psychiatric education. He went on to serve as an instructor of neuropsychiatry at Duke University from 1948 to 1949 and worked part time in child community clinics in North Carolina. He went on to become an assistant professor and associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Tennessee from 1949 to 1953, where he was the director of the Child Guidance Clinic. Afterwards he served as Associate professor of psychiatry at Duke from 1953 to 1959 and developed a psychiatric service with training and research activities at the new V.A. Hospital. Dr. Parker left Duke in 1959 to serve as professor and chairman of the University of Kentucky's Department of Psychiatry. In 1970, Dr. Parker returned to Duke University Medical Center as a professor of psychiatry and remained in this position until his retirement and serving as professor emeritus.