Cotton Mather, Smallpox Inoculation, Boston, MA, 1721
“Cotton Mather (February 12, 1663 – February 13, 1728) was a New England Puritan minister, prolific author, and pamphleteer. He left a scientific legacy due to his hybridization experiments and his promotion of inoculation for disease prevention, though he is most frequently remembered today for his involvement in the Salem witch trials… Smallpox was a serious threat in colonial America, most devastating to Native Americans, but also to Anglo-American settlers. New England suffered smallpox epidemics in 1677, 1689–90, and 1702. It was highly contagious, and mortality could reach as high as 30 percent. Boston had been plagued by smallpox outbreaks in 1690 and 1702. During this era, public authorities in Massachusetts dealt with the threat primarily by means of quarantine. Incoming ships were quarantined in Boston Harbor, and any smallpox patients in town were held under guard or in a "pesthouse". In 1706, Onesimus, one of Mather's slaves, explained to Mather how he had been inoculated as a child in Africa. Mather was fascinated by the idea. By July 1716, he had read an endorsement of inoculation by Dr Emanuel Timonius of Constantinople in the Philosophical Transactions. Mather then declared, in a letter to Dr John Woodward of Gresham College in London, that he planned to press Boston's doctors to adopt the practice of inoculation should smallpox reach the colony again… On June 6, 1721, Mather sent an abstract of reports on inoculation by Timonius and Jacobus Pylarinus to local physicians, urging them to consult about the matter. He received no response. Next, Mather pleaded his case to Dr. Zabdiel Boylston, who tried the procedure on his youngest son and two slaves—one grown and one a boy. All recovered in about a week.”
Samuel Adams & John Hancock, First Medical Society, Boston, MA, 1781
“The Massachusetts Medical Society (MMS) is the oldest, most distinguished and prestigious continuously operating state medical association in the United States. Incorporated on November 1, 1781, by an act of the Massachusetts General Court, the MMS is a non-profit organization that consists of more than 25,000 physicians, medical students and residents. It is currently based in Waltham, Massachusetts. The majority of the members live or practice in Massachusetts and the immediate vicinity… The charter of the MMS is signed by Samuel Adams as president of the Massachusetts Senate, and John Hancock as Governor of Massachusetts.”
Harvard Medical School, Early Medical School, Boston, MA, 1782
“Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the graduate medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is one of the oldest medical schools in the United States and is consistently ranked first for research among medical schools by U.S. News & World Report. Unlike most other leading medical schools, HMS does not operate in conjunction with a single hospital but is directly affiliated with several teaching hospitals in the Boston area.”
Massachusetts General Hospital/Ether Dome, Teaching Hospital, Boston, MA, 1811
“Massachusetts General Hospital (Mass General or MGH) is the original and largest teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School located in the West End neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. It is the third oldest general hospital in the United States and has a capacity of 999 beds… Founded in 1811, the original hospital was designed by the famous American architect Charles Bulfinch. It is the third-oldest general hospital in the United States; only Pennsylvania Hospital (1751) and NewYork–Presbyterian Hospital's predecessor New York Hospital (1771) are older. John Warren, Professor of Anatomy and Surgery at Harvard Medical School, spearheaded the move of the medical school to Boston.”
Dr. William T.G. Morton & Dr. John Warren, First Anesthesia for Surgery, Boston, MA, 1846
“Modern medicine would not be possible without anesthesia. An early form of anesthesia was first used at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston by dentist William T.G. Morton and surgeon John Warren on October 16, 1846… On October 16, 1846, Boston dentist William T.G. Morton used sulfuric ether to anesthetize a man who needed surgery to remove a vascular tumor from his neck, according to “The Painful Story Behind Modern Anesthesia” by Dr. Howard Markel on PBS.org. Surgeon John Warren performed the procedure on patient Glenn Abbott. William T.G. Morton called his creation Letheon, named after the Lethe River of Greek mythology, noted for its waters that helped erase “painful memories.””
Dr. Lydia Folger Fowler, First American Female Medical Doctor, Nantucket, MA, 1850
“Lydia Folger Fowler (May 5, 1823 – January 26, 1879), born in Nantucket, she was a pioneering American physician, professor of medicine, and activist. She was the first American woman to earn a medical degree and one of the first women in medicine and a prominent women in science… Folger attended the Wheaton Female Seminary (Massachusetts) when she was 16 years old, and began teaching there in 1842 at the age of 20. Lydia Folger and Lorenzo Fowler would attend conferences and lecture tours together. Lydia Folger would generally address female audiences… After establishing a lecturing and writing career, she began medical school and earned an M.D. from Central Medical College in Syracuse, New York in 1850, one of eight women entering the first coed medical school in the country.”
Clara Barton, Nurse & American Red Cross Founder, North Oxford, MA, 1881
“Clarissa Barton was born on December 25, 1821, in North Oxford, Massachusetts and was named after the titular character of Samuel Richardson's novel Clarissa. She was a pioneering American nurse who founded the American Red Cross. She was a hospital nurse in the American Civil War, a teacher, and a patent clerk. Since nursing education was not then very formalized and she did not attend nursing school, she provided self-taught nursing care. Barton is noteworthy for doing humanitarian work and civil rights advocacy at a time before women had the right to vote. She was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 1973.”
Alfred Bosworth, First Infant Formula, Boston, MA, 1919-20
“In 1919, the first infant formula was developed at the Floating Hospital for Children (now at Tufts Medical Center). The formula, eventually named Similac, is now used to nourish babies worldwide…Alfred Bosworth released Similac (Marketed by Moores and Ross Milk Company, now Abbott Laboratories). Mead Johnson introduced first soy-based formula, Sobee.”
image01110) Dr. Philip Drinker & Dr. Louis Agassiz Shaw, First Development & Use of Iron Lung, Boston, MA, 1928
“[I]n 1928, Children's Hospital in Boston was the scene of the first use of an "iron lung." Developed by young Harvard doctors, it was little more than a galvanized iron box, a bed, and two household vacuum cleaners. A little girl whose lungs were paralyzed by polio was placed in the airtight metal cylinder with only her head exposed. The 700-pound, 3 x 7 foot, galvanized metal machine breathed for her. Vacuum pumps connected to it drew the air in and out of the cylinder, causing the child's lungs to rise and fall in regular breaths. For the next 30 years, this invention would mean the difference between life and death for victims of polio. Development of the polio vaccine ultimately retired regular use of the iron lung.”
Dr. Robert Gross, First Surgery on Congenital Heart Defect, Boston, MA, 1938
“In 1938 at Boston Children’s Hospital, Robert Gross, MD, a physician credited with ushering in the era of modern cardiac surgery, carried out the world’s first successful surgical procedure to correct a congenital cardiovascular defect.”
Dr. Joseph Murray, First Organ Transplant Surgery, Boston, MA, 1954
“In December 1954, the first successful kidney transplant was carried out by Dr. Joseph Murray and Dr. David Hume in Boston. Despite many previous attempts in history, this was the first instance where the recipient of an organ transplant survived the operation. The turning point came when various technical issues were overcome, such as vascular anastomosis (the connection between two blood vessels), placement of the kidney and immune response. In 1963, the first lung transplant was carried out, followed by a pancreas/kidney in 1966, and liver and heart in 1967. Aside from saving thousands of lives in the years following, transplant procedures have also become increasingly innovative and complex, with doctors successfully completing the first hand transplant in 1998 and full-face transplant in 2010!”
Dr. Dwight Harken, First Artificial Heart Valve Surgery, Boston, MA, 1960
“The first successful totally artificial device to replace a cardiac valve was implanted in the aortic-valve position by Dr. Dwight Harken in March 1960 at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston.”
Barouh Berkovits & Dr. Dwight Harken, First Artificial Cardiac Pacemaker, Boston, MA, 1966
“Medtronic, American Optical Co of Boston (AO), and Cordis announced pacemakers that avoided competition with conducted heartbeats. AO’s “demand” pacemaker and a similar unit from Medtronic recycled when they sensed ventricular depolarization. Designed by Barouh Berkovits, the AO pacer was first implanted in 1966 by Dr. Dwight Harken at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston… Barouh Vojtec Berkovits (May 7, 1926 – October 23, 2012) was one of the pioneers of bio-engineering, particularly the cardiac defibrillator and artificial cardiac pacemaker. In particular, Berkovits invented the "demand pacemaker" and the DC defibrillator… Dr. Dwight Harken (1910–1993) was an American surgeon. He was an innovator in heart surgery and introduced the concept of the intensive care unit.”
Dr. Ioannis Yannas & Dr. John F. Burke, First Artificial Skin for Burn Victims, Boston, MA, 1981-82
“Artificial skin is a collagen scaffold that induces regeneration of skin in mammals such as humans. The term was used in the late 1970s and early 1980s to describe a new treatment for massive burns. It was later discovered that treatment of deep skin wounds in adult animals and humans with this scaffold induces regeneration of the dermis…. A process for inducing regeneration in skin was invented by Dr. Ioannis V. Yannas (then an assistant professor in the Fibers and Polymers Division, Department of Mechanical Engineering, at Massachusetts Institute of Technology) and Dr. John F. Burke (then chief of staff at Shriners Burns Institute in Boston, Massachusetts)… In 1981 Burke and Yannas proved that their artificial skin worked on patients with 50 to 90 percent burns, vastly improving the chances of recovery and improvised quality of life. John F. Burke also claimed, in 1981, "[The Artificial skin] is soft and pliable, not stiff and hard, unlike other substances used to cover burned-off skin."
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Rebecca Lee Crumpler, First African-American Female Medical Doctor, Boston, MA, 1864
“Rebecca Lee Crumpler, née Davis (February 8, 1831 – March 9, 1895), was an American physician and author. After studying at New England Female Medical College [merged with Boston University], in 1864 she became the first African-American woman to become a doctor of medicine in the United States… In 1883, she published A Book of Medical Discourses. Dedicated to nurses and mothers, it focused on maternal and pediatric medical care and it was among the first publications written by an African American about medicine.”
