1735-1789

American physician and surgeon who received his M.D. at Edinburgh in 1763, then two years later co-founded with William Shippen the first medical school in the Western Hemisphere, the Medical Department of the College of Philadelphia, subsequently called the School of Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania. From 1775 to 1777 he served as Director-General of Military Hospitals and Physician-in-Chief of the American Army, a position equivalent to surgeon-general. In 1787 he became one of the 12 original fellows of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia.