175 Years of Medicine at UB: Founders
Austin Flint, MD (1812-1886)
Image from the History of Medicine Collection
Austin Flint was the first registrar and treasurer of the Medical School as well as a Professor of Principles and Practice of Medicine and Clinical Medicine. Flint was the founder of the Buffalo Medical Journal. Flint is well known for his studies into auscultation and percussion of the chest as well as tracing the source of the 1843 typhoid epidemic in North Boston, NY. A heart murmur, known as the Austin Flint murmur, is named after him.
Frank Hastings Hamilton, MD (1813-1886)
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Hamilton was the first dean of the Buffalo Medical School. He was a Professor of Principles and Practice of Surgery and Clinical Study at Buffalo for fourteen years. He was appointed as medical director of the Army of the Potomac in 1861 and medical inspector of the U.S. Army in 1863.
James Platt White, MD (1811-1881)
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James Platt White served as the first professor of Obstetrics and Diseases of Women and Children at the Medical School. During the 1849-1850 winter session, James Platt White invited controversy when he showed a woman in labor to his class. A number of Buffalo medical professionals voiced their objections to Dr. White's “demonstrative midwifery” which eventually led to Dr. White appealing to an Erie County grand jury. The trial, The People Vs Dr. Horatio M Loomis, resulted in an indictment for libel against one of Dr. White's critics. White advocated for the use of anesthesia in childbirth and developed new surgical techniques and instruments for the field of Obstetrics.
Charles Brodhead Coventry, MD (1801-1875)
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Brodhead was the Professor of Physiology and Medical Jurisprudence at the University's founding. He became the first faculty member to be nominated emeritus professor in 1851.
George Hadley, MD (1813-1877)
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Hadley was appointed Professor of Chemistry in 1846 and held the position for thirty-one years.
Charles Alfred Lee, MD (1801-1872)
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Appointed as Professor of Pathology and Materia Medica in 1846. He resigned from teaching pathology in 1856 but continued to teach materia medica. He was named emeritus professor in 1871.
James Webster, MD (1803-1854)
James Webster held the post of the first Professor of General and Special Anatomy at the University from 1846 to 1851.
References
1. Another Era: A Pictorial History of the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, State University of New York at Buffalo, 1846-1996 / Ronald Elmer Batt [and others], ed. R.E. Batt. 1996, Virginia Beach, VA: The Donning Co.
2. Sentz, L., Medical History in Buffalo, 1846-1996: Collected Essays / compiled and edited by Lilli Sentz ; Ronald E. Batt [and others], ed. R.E. Batt. 1996, Buffalo, N.Y: School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, State University of New York at Buffalo.