Alumni of the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania

This is a list of notable alumni of the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Graduates from before 1922 can be confirmed within the University of Pennsylvania alumni catalogue.^[1] Graduates from 1840 and before (and honorary degree holders) can also be found in the 1839 (with 1840 addendum) catalogue.^[2]

Graduates

18th Century

• John Archer, Class of 1768: first person to receive a medical degree from an American school and a U.S. congressman from Maryland
• David Jackson, Class of 1768: appointed to manage the lottery for costs of the American Revolutionary War, but he resigned to become an army surgeon, Pennsylvania delegate to the Continental Congress in 1785 and 1786
• David Ramsay, Class of 1773, 1780 (Hon. M.D.): South Carolina delegate to the Continental Congress, one of the first major historians of the American Revolution
• Caspar Wistar, Class of 1782: president of the American Philosophical Society and President of the Society for the Abolition of Slavery
• Adam Seybert, Class of 1793: Pennsylvania representative to the U.S. Congress
• Lewis Condict, Class of 1794: New Jersey representative to the U.S. Congress, trustee of Princeton College
• Charles Caldwell, Class of 1796: founder of the University of Louisville School of Medicine
• John Claiborne, Class of 1798: Virginia representative to the U.S. Congress
• John Hahn, Class of 1798: Pennsylvania representative to the U.S. Congress

19th Century

• Nathaniel Chapman, Class of 1800: first President of the American Medical Association
• William Wyatt Bibb, Class of 1801: Georgia representative to the U.S. Congress, U.S. Senate, and Governor of Alabama
• Hedge Thompson, Class of 1802: New Jersey representative to the U.S. Congress
• William Darlington, Class of 1804: War of 1812 major of a volunteer regiment, Pennsylvania representative to the U.S. Congress
• John Floyd, Class of 1804: 25th Governor of Virginia, Virginia representative to the U.S. Congress
• George Edward Mitchell, Class of 1805: Maryland representative to the U.S. Congress
• William Potts Dewees, Class of 1806: Obstetrician and author of System of Midwifery, a standard reference book on Obstetrics
• William P. C. Barton, Class of 1808: author of A Treatise Containing a Plan for the Internal Organization and Government of Marine Hospitals in the U.S.... and Dean of Jefferson Medical College
• Reuben D. Mussey, Class of 1809: in 1862, wrote the first definitive history of tobacco documenting its dangers
• Samuel A. Cartwright, did not graduate: improved sanitary conditions during the American Civil War and was honored for his investigations into yellow fever and Asiatic cholera
• Arnold Naudain, Class of 1810: served in the War of 1812 as surgeon of the Delaware Regiment, U.S. Senator from Delaware
• Henry H. Chambers, Class of 1811: U.S. Senator from Alabama
• Joel Barlow Sutherland, Class of 1812: Pennsylvania representative to the U.S. Congress, served in the War of 1812 as assistant surgeon to the "Junior Artillerists of Philadelphia"
• Clement Finley, Class of 1818: 10th Surgeon General of the U.S. Army
• John M. Patton, Class of 1818: Virginia representative to the U.S. Congress
• George Bacon Wood, Class of 1818: Compiled first Dispensatory of the United States (1833); president of both the College of Physicians of Philadelphia and American Medical Association
• George McClellan, Class of 1819: founder of Jefferson Medical College, now Thomas Jefferson University
• John Light Atlee, Class of 1820: one of the organizers of, and past President of the American Medical Association
• William Maclay Awl, matric. 1819, did not graduate: acting superintendent of the Ohio "State Hospital," president of the Association of Superintendents of Asylums for the Insane of the United States and Canada, one of the founders of the Ohio State Medical Society
• John Ker, Class of 1822: surgeon in the War of 1812 and the Creek War, plantation owner, co-founder of the Mississippi Colonization Society, former vice presidents of the American Colonization Society
• William Alexander Caruthers, Class of 1823: novelist, his better known works including The Cavaliers of Virginia, or the Recluse of Jamestown and The Knights of the Horse Shoe
• George Nicholas Eckert, Class of 1824: Pennsylvania representative (Whig) to the U.S. Congress
• John Milton Bernhisel, Class of 1827: Utah delegate to the U.S. Congress
• Joseph Pancoast, Class of 1828: surgeon and department chairman at Jefferson Medical College; author of A Treatise on Operative Surgery
• Edson B. Olds, Class of 1829: Ohio representative to the U.S. Congress
• Robert Rentoul Reed, Class of 1829: Pennsylvania representative to the U.S. Congress
• William Ruschenberger, Class of 1830: surgeon for the United States Navy, president of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 1870–1882, and president of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia 1879–1883
• Meriwether Lewis Anderson, Class of 1831: elected to the Virginia Legislature
• Greene Washington Caldwell, Class of 1831: assistant surgeon in the U.S. Army, North Carolina representative to the U.S. Congress
• Francis Mallory, Class of 1831: Virginia representative to the U.S. Congress, U.S. Naval officer
• Thomas R. Potts, Class of 1831: first mayor of St. Paul, Minnesota^[3]
• Samuel Carey Bradshaw, Class of 1833: Opposition Party member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania
• John Carmichael Jenkins, Class of 1833: general physician, horticulturalist and plantation owner
• Lucius Israel Barber, Class of 1835: Speaker of the Wisconsin Territorial House of Representatives in 1839, member of the Legislature serving in the Wisconsin Territorial Council, wrote about the history of Simsbury, Connecticut
• Norman Eddy, Class of 1835: Colonel of the 48th Indiana Infantry during the American Civil War, Indiana representative to the U.S. Congress
• Percy Walker, Class of 1835: Alabama representative to the U.S. Congress
• Alfred Stillé, Class of 1836: researched and published the differences typhus and typhoid fever along with widely used texts on medicine and medical education
• Pliny Earle, Class of 1837: founder of the American Medical Association, the New York Academy of Medicine, the Association of Medical Superintendents of American Institutions for the Insane, and the New England Psychological Society
• Samuel Lilly, Class of 1837: New Jersey representative to the U.S. Congress
• David Hayes Agnew, Class of 1838: surgeon and author of The Principles and Practice of Surgery
• Henry Marchmore Shaw, Class of 1838: North Carolina representative to the U.S. Congress
• Thomas Dunn English, Class of 1839: writer, New Jersey representative to the U.S. Congress
• Crawford Long, Class of 1839: surgeon and pharmacist; first person to use inhaled ether as an anesthetic
• William A. Newell, Class of 1839: New Jersey representative to the U.S. Congress, created the Newell Act, which created the U.S. Life-Saving Service
• George R. Dennis, Class of 1842: U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania
• Isaiah D. Clawson, Class of 1843: Opposition Party and Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New Jersey
• Thomas Buchecker Cooper, Class of 1843: Pennsylvania representative to the U.S. Congress
• Alexander Keith Marshall, Class of 1844: Kentucky representative to the U.S. Congress
• Jonathan T. Updegraff, Class of 1845: Ohio representative to the U.S. Congress
• James Dale Strawbridge, Class of 1847: Pennsylvania representative to the U.S. Congress
• William Wallace Anderson, Class of 1849: designed the Borough House Plantation and Church of the Holy Cross (Stateburg, South Carolina), now National Historic Landmarks
• Samuel W. Crawford, Class of 1850: U.S. Army surgeon and a Union general in the American Civil War
• John Daniel Clardy, Class of 1851: Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Kentucky
• Ephraim L. Acker, Class of 1852: Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania
• John H. Pugh, Class of 1852: New Jersey representative to the U.S. Congress
• Joseph Janvier Woodward, Class of 1853: 34th President of the American Medical Association, pioneer in photomicrography, surgeon, performed the autopsies of Abraham Lincoln and John Wilkes Booth, and contributed two volumes to the Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion
• Horatio C Wood, Jr. [sic], Class of 1862: author of the 1874 work Treatise on Therapeutics, Special Prize from American Philosophical Society for his 1869 paper Research upon American Hemp, 1871 Warren Prize from Massachusetts General Hospital for Experimental Researches in the Physiological Action of Amyl Nitrite, 1872 Boylston Prize for Thermic Fever or Sunstroke, nephew of George Bacon Wood
• William Pepper, Class of 1864: former Provost of the University of Pennsylvania and founder of Philadelphia's first free public library
• Charles Conrad Abbott, Class of 1865: surgeon in the Union Army during the American Civil War
• Joseph Jorgensen, Class of 1865: Virginia representative to the U.S. Congress
• Hiram R. Burton, Class of 1868: Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Delaware, Delaware Secretary of State
• Caleb R. Layton, Class of 1876: Delaware representative to the U.S. Congress
• Francis Xavier Dercum, Class of 1877: first described the disease Adiposis dolorosa (Dercum's disease), treated President Woodrow Wilson in 1919
• Lewis Heisler Ball, Class of 1885: Republican member of the U.S. Senate from Delaware
• Alfred Stengel, Class of 1889: President of the American College of Physicians, one of the students that commissioned Thomas Eakins' The Agnew Clinic
• Tom Cahill, left 1891, did not graduate: played one season in Major League Baseball for the Louisville Colonels, planned to finish medical degree but died from an injury before being able to do so
• Leonard N. Boston, Class of 1896: described Boston's sign in Graves' disease
• Jesse Hall "Pete" Allen, Class of 1897: Major League Baseball player for the Cleveland Spiders, assistant professor of proctology at Jefferson Medical College, Penn varsity baseball coach (1896 and 1897)

20th Century

• Charles Browne, Class of 1900: New Jersey representative to the U.S. Congress
• Josiah McCracken, Class of 1901: American football player, Olympic medalist, and founder and president of the University Medical School in Canton, China (1907–1913) and dean of the Pennsylvania Medical School of St. John's University in Shanghai (1914–1942)
• Arthur Percy Noyes, Class of 1906: president of the Philadelphia Psychiatric Society and the Pennsylvania Psychiatric Society, former superintendent of Rhode Island's state mental hospital
• William Carlos Williams, Class of 1906: poet, pediatrician, and general practitioner
• Archibald E. Olpp, Class of 1908: New Jersey representative to the U.S. Congress, served as first lieutenant in the U.S. Medical Corps during the First World War
• Isaac Starr, Class of 1920: developed the first practical ballistocardiograph; 1957 Albert Lasker Award, 1967 Kober Medal of the Association of American Physicians, 1977 Burger Medal of the Free University of Amsterdam^[4]
• William Holmes Crosby Jr., Class of 1940: one of the founding fathers of modern hematology
• James D. Weaver, Class of 1944: Pennsylvania representative to the U.S. Congress, colonel in the U.S. Air Force
• Helen Octavia Dickens, 1945, Graduate school: OB-Gyn, first African-American woman to be admitted to the American College of Surgeons, director of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Mercy Douglass hospital, sexually transmitted infection researcher
• Leon Eisenberg, Class of 1946:^[5] accomplished psychiatrist, completed the first outcome study of autistic children in adolescence, Chief of Psychiatry at Johns Hopkins Hospital and the Massachusetts General Hospital
• William H. Harris, Class of 1951: developed the Harris Hip Score, performed the world's first successful total hip replacement in a patient with a total congenital dislocation of the hip, developed the first effective cement-free acetabular component
• Gerald Edelman, Class of 1954: 1972 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovering the structure and mode of action of antibodies; founder and director of The Neurosciences Institute; also noted for his theory of secondary consciousness
• Maria New, Class of 1954: expert in congenital adrenal hyperplasia, former Chief of Pediatric Endocrinology at Cornell University Medical College, first to publish mutations on the 11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 2 enzyme
• Alton Sutnick, Class of 1954: made the seminal discovery leading to a hepatitis B vaccine, first to describe hepatitis C, Dean of the Medical College of Pennsylvania
• Liebe Sokol Diamond, Class of 1955: first female resident (orthopedic surgery) at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, co-founder of the Pediatric Orthopedic Society of North America, inductee of the Maryland Women's Hall of Fame
• David E. Kuhl, Class of 1955: 2009 Japan Prize, best known for his pioneering work in positron emission tomography
• Walter Bortz II, Class of 1955: one of America's leading scientific experts on aging
• Frank A. Oski, Class of 1958:^[5] chair of pediatrics at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, founder and editor of the journal Contemporary Pediatrics, co-wrote the first textbook focused on blood disorders in newborns, editor of Principles and Practice of Pediatrics
• James A. Zimble, Class of 1959: 30th Surgeon General of the United States Navy, former president of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences
• Michael Stuart Brown, Class of 1966: 1985 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, 1957 Albert Lasker Award
• Bennett Lorber, Class of 1968: professional artist and infectious disease specialist, 2013 Jane F. Desforges Distinguished Teacher Award from the American College of Physicians, 2003 Alexander Fleming Lifetime Achievement Award from the Infectious Diseases Society of America
• Marvin Makinen, Class of 1968: Biophysicist and human rights advocate at the University of Chicago
• Stanley B. Prusiner, Class of 1968: 1997 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
• Arnold Klein, Class of 1971: Beverly Hills dermatologist and television/news medical expert
• Ann Arvin, Class of 1972: Vice Provost and Dean of Research at Stanford Univ.
• Robert Barchi, Class of 1973: 20th President of Rutgers University, former President of Thomas Jefferson Univ; former Provost of Penn
• Marie Bernard, Class of 1976: Deputy Director of the National Institute on Aging at the National Institutes of Health
• Dana Beyer, Class of 1978: executive director of Gender Rights Maryland
• Mitchell J. Blutt, Class of 1982: founder and CEO of the healthcare investment firm Consonance Capital, former Executive Partner of J.P. Morgan Partners, Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College and the Graduate School of Medical Sciences of Cornell University
• Richard Besser, Class of 1986: ABC News medical editor, former acting director for the CDC and the ATSDR
• Mehmet Oz, Class of 1986: cardiothoracic surgeon and host of The Dr. Oz Show; alumnus of the Wharton School
• David Agus, Class of 1991: co-founder of Navigenics, a personal genetic testing company, and Oncology.com
• Reginald Ho, Class of 1993: cardiologist, star kicker on the 1988 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team
• Arthur L. Jenkins, Class of 1993: neurosurgeon, co-director of the Neurosurgical Spine Program at the Mount Sinai Hospital, New York, inventor of spine-related implants and support systems

21st Century

• Rajiv Shah, Class of 2001: director of USAID, formerly at Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; alumnus of the Wharton School
• Wendy Sue Swanson, Class of 2003: pediatrician, social media activist, author of Seattle Mama Doc blog
• Emily Kramer-Golinkoff, MBE, 2009: researcher, health activist, and cystic-fibrosis patient, founder of nonprofit Emily's Entourage

References

1. General Alumni Society (1922). General Alumni Catalogue of the University of Pennsylvania, 1922. University of Pennsylvania. Retrieved April 21, 2015.
2. Catalogue of the medical graduates of the University of Pennsylvania. Lydia R. Bailey, printer. 1839.
3. General alumni catalogue of the University of Pennsylvania, University of Pennsylvania. General Alumni Society, 1917, accessed December 5, 2010.
4. Hepp, Christopher. "Penn's Isaac Starr, 94, Pioneer In Cardiology". The Inquirer. Retrieved 27 October 2011.
5. "Penn Medicine Distinguished Graduate Award". upenn.edu.