Sir William Osler was chief physician at John Hopkins Hospital, and is often referred to as the “father of modern medicine”. Osler founded the first residency program for specialized medical training, and his book The Principles and Practice of Medicine greatly influenced medicine for nearly a century. Henry Gray was a surgeon and anatomist whose work is still being studied today. Gray first published Anatomy in 1858, and the book is still being published today as Gray's Anatomy.
The book has had a major influence on modern medicine and is considered an authoritative medical textbook to this day. Nowadays, it's common for women to be doctors, but that wasn't always the case. In 1849, Elizabeth Blackwell was the first woman to receive a medical degree in the United States. It goes without saying that surgery requires sterilized equipment.
We can thank Joseph Lister for that. Known as the “father of modern surgery”, Lister was a pioneer in antiseptic surgery. For the more than 50 years in which medical dramas have featured prominently in prime time programming, we've been looking forward to our weekly home visits with the best doctors. Big names like the affectionate Marcus Welby, the precocious Doogie Howser and the gorgeous Derek McDreamy Shepherd come easily to mind, but let's not forget the rest of these notable fictional doctors.
Atul Gawande has worked as a surgeon at Brigham and Women's Hospital and has been a professor at the Harvard T School of Public Health, H. Chan and at Harvard Medical School. But working in one of the best hospitals in the United States and teaching in two of the most prestigious health programs in the United States wasn't enough; he's also the founder and president of Ariadne Labs, a center for innovation in health systems; president of Lifebox, a non-profit organization that aims to make surgery safer around the world; editor of The New Yorker magazine; and author of four New York Times best-selling books. Most recently, he co-founded CIC Health, which operates COVID-19 testing and vaccination services across the country, and was a member of Biden's COVID-19 transition advisory board.
Mark Hyman is one of the country's best-known promoters of functional medicine. Dedicated to understanding and treating the root causes of chronic diseases, Dr. Hyman serves as director of strategy and innovation at the Center for Functional Medicine at the Cleveland Clinic; he is also the founder and medical director of The UltraWellness Center, president of the clinical affairs board of the Institute of Functional Medicine, host of the leading health podcast, The Doctor's Pharmacy, and 14 times New York Times best-selling author.