A Perfectly Striking Departure: Surgeons and Surgery at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, 1912-1980

By Nicholas L. Tilney

Sir William Osler, Regius Professor of Medicine at Oxford University and arguably the most highly recognized physician in the world at the time was the guest of honor at the opening ceremony for the new Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in 1913. He remarked that "today I have seen a new and perfectly striking departure in hospital growth, a very important step in medical education, and a great thing for the future development of medicine." During its seven decade existence as a teaching arm of the Harvard Medical School, the hospital fulfilled Oslers predictions. Although small in size, it was heavily endowed and able to attract a faculty of international rank who blended exemplary residency training with comprehensive patient care through careful clinical observation, accurate laboratory assessment, biological knowledge, and innovative technical improvements. Activities of the Department of Surgery at the Peter Bent Brigham began with the introduction of an entirely new specialty of neurosurgery by the first surgeon-in-chief, Harvey Cushing. A polymath, Cushing not only revolutionized the care of soldiers sustaining head injuries in war, but won a Pulitzer Prize for his biography of Osler. He likewise assembled an incomparable collection of rare medical books and incunabula, the foundation in large part of the Historical Library at the Yale Medical School.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0881353825
• ISBN13: 9780881353822
• Release Date: June 2006
• Publisher: Science History Publications/USA
• Length: 282 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.