George Hughes Kirby (1875–1935) was an American physician and psychiatrist, administrator, and educator, who contributed to the advancement of psychiatry in the United States. Kirby was born in Goldsboro, North Carolina, the son of a physician who was superintendent of the state mental hospital in Goldsboro. He attended the public schools of Goldsboro, then enrolled in the University of North Carolina, earned his nomination to Phi Beta Kappa, and graduated with a B.A. in 1896. His medical training was at the Long Island College Hospital in New York, and he earned his M.D. in 1899. He worked under Adolph Meyer at the Worcester State Hospital in Massachusetts. In 1902, when Meyer became director of the New York State Psychiatric Institute, located on Wards Island, Kirby went with him and was