(1869-1939)
Harvey Williams Cushing, M.D., was a major pioneer of neurosurgery whose work has left a monumental impact on neuroscience and the entire medical field. He was born on April 8, 1869 in Cleveland, Ohio into a large family with a history of esteemed physicians, and spent his childhood there before attending Yale University, where he graduated with a B.A. in 1891. Following his graduation, Cushing studied medicine at Harvard University and received his M.D. in 1895. He spent most of his career practicing in Baltimore, where he made countless contributions to medicine, including discovering the Cushing reflex and Cushing’s disease, developing several techniques for surgical operation on the brain, and training and mentoring many other neurosurgeons, like Walter Dandy, who eventually made their own lasting impact on the field. In addition to his medical achievements, Cushing served as a colonel in World War I, where his surgical expertise saved numerous lives and earned him a Distinguished Service Medal from the U.S. Army. He also became a Pulitzer Prize winning author in 1926 for his work in writing a powerful biography of Sir William Osler. By the end of his illustrious career, Cushing had amassed several awards and honors, including the Lister Medal, the Cameron Prize for Therapeutics of the University of Edinburgh, and serving as a fellow of the American Philosophical Society, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, and the Royal Society of London. Upon his retirement from medical practice, he became the Sterling Professor of Neurology at the Yale School of Medicine. Today, his portrait (pictured below) is displayed at the Allen Memorial Medical Library in the Cushing Room.
