William Williams Keen was internationally known as an innovative surgeon, prolific writer, and outstanding teacher of surgery and anatomy. He was class valedictorian at Brown University and earned his MD at Jefferson Medical College in 1862.

Soon after graduation from medical school, he served as acting surgeon in the US Army during the Civil War. He served near the front before being called to Turner's Lane Hospital in Philadelphia. The military was organizing hospitals that offered specialized treatment and in 1863, Union soldiers with neurological injuries and illnesses were sent to Turner's Lane Hospital. Physicians S. Weir Mitchell and George R. Morehouse had requested Keen's transfer and the three doctors observed the neurological patients closely, keeping detailed notes. They were the first to document and name causalgia, a severe burning sensation which can follow partial injury of the nerves. The doctors also studied the exaggeration of symptoms in malingering patients...