Dr. Thomas Earl Starzl (1926-2017): Father of Transplantation.
Published in Journal of medical biography
Xavier Bichat and the renovation of the pathological anatomy.
Published in Journal of medical biography
Xavier Bichat, who lived a short life (1771-1802), was prominent French anatomist and physiologist during the time of revolution and one of the founders of French scientific medicine. He played a key role in the creation of the science of histology. Indeed, he was the first to see the organs of the body as being formed through the specialization of...
Dr. Sait Bilal Golem (1899-1955): Veterinarian and pioneer researcher of public health in Albania and Turkey.
Published in Journal of medical biography
Sait Bilal Golem is an Albanian veterinarian who graduated from the Military Veterinary School in 1920. Golem started his doctorate in microbiology at Alfort Veterinary School. In this process, he worked as an assistant to the world-renowned French microbiologist Dr Gaston Ramon at the Pasteur Institute. After his doctorate, he returned to Albania ...
William Warwick James OBE FRCS MCh FDS FLS (1874 to 1965).
Published in Journal of medical biography
William Warwick James was one of the most inspiring and outstanding dental surgeons of his time, a key researcher in dentistry and zoology and a pioneer in maxillofacial surgery. Most maxillofacial departments hold sets of his dental elevators. He wrote a major wartime work with Benjamin Fickling on the treatment of jaw and facial injuries.
John Graunt F.R.S. (1620-74): The founding father of human demography, epidemiology and vital statistics.
Published in Journal of medical biography
John Graunt, a largely self-educated London draper, can plausibly be regarded as the founding father of demography, epidemiology and vital statistics. In his only publication, based on a pioneering analysis of the London Bills of Mortality, he replaced guesswork with reasoned estimates of population sizes and the first accurate information on male:...
Ernest Hart: Editor of the British Medical Journal 1866-1898.
Published in Journal of medical biography
Ernest Abraham Hart (26 June 1835-7 January 1898) was the long-time editor of the British Medical Journal. He held strong opinions, and was often controversial but his views generally prevailed. He was born into a Jewish family in London and was educated at the City of London School. He studied medicine at the St George's Hospital School of Medicin...
The Sloop family: Addressing rural health disparities through service and education.
Published in Journal of medical biography
Dr Mary T. Martin Sloop and Dr Eustace Henry Sloop shaped the landscape of healthcare and education for the small town of Crossnore in the mountains of Western North Carolina throughout the early- to mid-twentieth century. The duo of general practitioners founded the Crossnore School and the Garrett Memorial Hospital, later renamed Sloop Memorial H...
On saline infusion, clonus, molecules and forgotten scientists: Who was Dr Julius Sander (1840-1909)?
Published in Journal of medical biography
Zitterbewegungen des Fusses bei Dorsalflexion (shaking movements of the foot upon dorsal flexion) were observed independently from each other and described in the same issue of a German peer reviewed journal by Carl Westphal (1833-1890) at the Charité in Berlin and by Wilhelm Erb (1840-1921) in Heidelberg. While Westphal used the term Fussphaenomen...
Francis Fontan (1929-2018): Pioneer pediatric cardiac surgeon.
Published in Journal of medical biography
Up until the mid-1900s, tricuspid atresia - a birth defect of the tricuspid valve, was once categorized as a "death sentence." The challenge of achieving positive health outcomes for affected patients was compounded by a hesitancy to operate on children. The main concern was safely administering anesthesia to young patients who were going through a...
Granville Coggs (1925-2019) - WWII pilot, pioneering radiologist, and inspiration to minorities in medicine.
Published in Journal of medical biography
Role models play an important role in firing the imagination of medical students and residents, and when it comes to attracting and sustaining under-represented minorities in fields such as medicine, the inspiring stories of minority physicians can make an especially important contribution. One such physician was Granville Coggs, an Arkansas native...
