Centuries of Leadership: Deans of the University of Maryland School of Medicine Item Type Book Authors University of Maryland, Baltimore. School of Medicine Keywords University of Maryland, Baltimore. School of Medicine--History; Deans (Education) Download date 26/09/2021 05:27:38 Item License https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10713/4797 CENTURIES OF LEADERSHIP Deans of the University of Maryland School of Medicine 2000 900 1 800 1 C ONTENTS Deans 3 John Beale Davidge 4 Nathaniel Potter 5 Elisha DeButts 6 William Gibson 7 Richard Wilmot Hall 8 Maxwell McDowell 9 Granville Sharp Pattison 10 Nathan Ryno Smith 11 Samuel Baker 12 Eli Geddings 13 Robley Dunglison 14 Samuel George Baker 15 William E.A. Aikin 16 Samuel Chew 17 George Warner Miltenberger 18 Julian John Chisolm 19 Samuel Claggett Chew 20 Louis McLane Tiffany 21 Jacob Edwin Michael 22 Isaac Edmondson Atkinson 23 Robert Dorsey Coale 24 Charles Wellman Mitchell 25 Arthur M. Shipley 26 James M.H. Rowland 27 Robert Urie Patterson 28 H. Boyd Wylie 29 William Spencer Stone 30 John H. Moxley III 31 John Murray Dennis 32 Donald E. Wilson I NTRODUCTION Centuries of Leadership This book, presented with pride in the past and confidence in the future, honors the historic milestones in leadership of the University of Maryland School of Medicine over the past two centuries. During the deans’ tenures innumerable accomplishments and medical “firsts” were achieved. Each dean has made his own profound impression on the School, as well as the city and state the institution has served for nearly two hundred years. The foundations of the fifth oldest unique distinction among its peers as The oldest medical school building in medical school in the country date the only medical school to be the North America still in use for medical back to 1789, when Baltimore physi- founding school of a university system. education, Davidge Hall houses two cians organized the Medical Society of expansive circular amphitheaters, one Baltimore. The society’s mission was From the beginning, there has been a atop the other, with no visible means to train young doctors and bring vali- strong emphasis on bedside teaching. of support for the upper hall, which dation to a profession greatly dimin- The first class of students received was an engineering marvel in the early ished by the Revolutionary War. The clinical instruction at the Baltimore 1800s. Dissecting cubbyholes, secret Medical Society of Baltimore’s Almshouse, a workhouse and infir- stairways, and hidden exits afforded founders tutored young students in mary for the poor. Dr. John Beale students and their professors safe pas- the physician’s homes, lecturing on Davidge, a native Marylander and a sage from the angry mobs that anatomy, surgery and chemistry. physician trained in Scotland, became opposed the use of cadavers as teach- There were no stethoscopes, ther- the first dean and took the chair in ing tools. Davidge Hall was designated mometers, hypodermic needles, surgery. Dr. James Cocke held the a state historical site by the Maryland antiseptics or anesthesia, and opera- chair in anatomy and physiology; Mr. Historical Society in 1970, and tions were often performed using James Shaw, the chair in chemistry; entered on the National Register of kitchen knives. and Dr. Nathaniel Potter, the chair of Historic Sites in 1974. Following a theory and practice of medicine. complete renovation in the early Faced with strong citizen protest Davidge, Shaw and Cocke purchased 1980s, Davidge Hall was designated a against anatomical dissection, the land for the school from John Eager National Historic Landmark by the physician-teachers petitioned the Howard, a Revolutionary War hero US Department of the Interior. Maryland State Legislature to estab- and former Maryland governor. Today, its presence stands as a symbol- lish a permanent college of medicine, ic reminder of American medical protected by the law. In 1807, the In 1810, the School of Medicine education at the beginning of the request was approved under a legisla- graduated its first class, awarding the 19th century. tive act entitled “An Act for Founding degree of Doctor of Medicine. Shortly a Medical College in the City or thereafter, Dr. John Crawford, the first In 1823, Maryland became the first Precincts of Baltimore for the man to vaccinate Baltimoreans against medical school in the country to build Instruction of Students in the smallpox, donated his personal library its own teaching hospital for clinical Different Branches of Medicine.” to the School, creating the nucleus instruction, which housed the site of The charter incorporated the College of the first medical college library the first intramural residency program. of Medicine of Maryland and granted in America. Patients were admitted for a weekly permission to hold a lottery to raise fee of $3. The infirmary was augment- money for a home for the fledgling In 1812, with money raised by the ed in 1897 with the opening of the school. The medical school was re- faculty, Davidge Hall was erected at University Hospital which, nearly a chartered in 1812 as the University of Lombard and Greene streets where, century later, would become a private, Maryland, and the regents were given according to legend, it afforded views not-for-profit corporation known authority to add the Schools of Law, of the bombardment of Fort as the University of Maryland Arts and Sciences and Divinity. Thus, McHenry during the War of 1812. Medical System. the School of Medicine earned the I NTRODUCTION Continued The School introduced the first pre- There was tremendous growth nation- to medicine by emphasizing a prob- ventive medicine course in 1833. A lit- ally in medical school facilities during lem-based approach to medical educa- tle more than 10 years later, Dr. David the second half of the 20th century, tion. Curriculum reform included Stewart, the first professor of pharmacy and the University of Maryland was replacing microscopes with laptop in America, began lecturing at the no exception. In 1960, the School computers, reducing the number of University. In 1848, recognizing the relocated most of its programs to the lectures, increasing the number of value of the basic sciences in the six-story Howard Hall, initiating a small group discussions, adding more undergraduate curriculum, Maryland series of renovations and new building ambulatory education, and increasing became the first school to require construction that would span nearly clinical relevance of the basic sciences. anatomical dissection and provided the three decades. Following the construc- An orientation for new faculty was first advocacy of biopsy and micro- tion of the new Bressler Research begun in 1995, and a symbolic White scopic diagnosis of malignancy. The Building and the Medical School Coat Ceremony for freshmen medical School also pioneered the teaching of Teaching Facility in the late 1970s, students was initiated in 1997. the diseases of women as a separate the School established the University subject from obstetrics, established the of Maryland Cancer Center, now the Today, the University of Maryland first clinic for the diseases of children, University of Maryland Greenebaum School of Medicine is a comprehen- and initiated early teaching activities in Cancer Center, in 1982. A few years sive academic health center with 23 both of these medical specialties. later the state-of-the-art R Adams departments, six programs and four Maryland was also the first school to Cowley Shock Trauma Center was organized research centers that com- establish a teaching position for dis- opened. The early ‘90s marked the bine medical education, biomedical eases of the eye and ear. addition of the Allied Health research, patient care and community Building, the Biomedical Research service. Together, the School of Alumni were very proud of their med- Facility, the Homer Gudelsky Tower Medicine and University of Maryland ical school and were eager to support and Health Sciences Facility I. In Medical System educate and train it. They organized the Medical Alumni order to consolidate the hospital’s more than half of Maryland’s practic- Association of the University of emergency medical services and to ing physicians and allied health care Maryland in 1875, which is today the modernize its surgical services, the professionals. As the medical school’s oldest independent medical alumni School initiated a massive develop- reputation continues to expand into association in the United States. Their ment effort in the latter half of the the new century, its rich history of quarterly magazine – Bulletin – is the decade. In 1996, the University of excellence and leadership in medical oldest medical alumni publication Maryland Biotechnology Institute education remains constant. in America. opened, followed by the Health Sciences and Human Services Library It was not until 1899 that the three-year in 1998, and Health Sciences Facility medical program, at a total fee of $305, II, a world-class state-of-the-art bio- became mandatory for medical stu- medical research facility in 2002. dents. The first female medical student, Teresa Ora Snaith, graduated from the Throughout its illustrious history, the School of Medicine in 1923, and, in School of Medicine’s curriculum has 1951, Donald Stewart and Roderick remained at the forefront of American Charles enrolled as the School’s first medical education. In 1994, the cur- African-American students. riculum was revised significantly to provide students with broad exposure J OHN B EALE D AVIDGE 1807–1811, 1814, 1821 Davidge John Beale Davidge, a native of In addition to his advanced surgical Annapolis, Maryland, settled in skill, Davidge was renowned as a lec- Baltimore in 1796. A founder of the turer and teacher. In 1802, five years College of Medicine of Maryland, before the formal establishment of later known as the School of the medical school, Davidge began Medicine, he became the School’s offering lectures in obstetrics and first dean in 1807.