Dr Daniel Hale Williams opened the first interracial hospital in 1891 in Chicago’s South Side and taught anatomy at his old university, the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. He also was one of the earliest adopters of the findings of Lister and Pasteur in the importance of sterilisation of hospitals. In 1893, he performed what would be the world’s first successful heart surgery on a patient who had been stabbed in the chest by successfully suturing their pericardium, the membranous sac enclosing the heart.
That same year, he created the Provident Hospital and Training school which had a racially integrated staff. In 1894, he moved to Washington DC and was appointed Chief Surgeon of the Freedman’s Hospital, which provided care for formerly enslaved African Americans. Whilst in this role, he helped to improve the surgical procedures and launched emergency ambulance services, while continuing his goal for the increase in Black medical professionals. In 1895, Williams created the National Medical Association, which allowed Black people to join
1856
1931
USA
African American
1891- Opened first interracial hospital
May 1891- Opened Provident Hospital and Training School
1893- World’s first open heart surgery
Dr Williams was born in 1856 and raised in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania. The fifth child born, Williams lived with his parents, a brother and five sisters. His family eventually moved to Annapolis, Maryland. When Williams was nine, his father died of tuberculosis (TB). Williams’ mother realised she could not manage the entire family and sent some of the children to live with relatives. Williams was apprenticed to a shoemaker in Baltimore, Maryland but ran away to join his mother, who had moved to Rockford, Illinois. He later moved to Edgerton, Wisconsin, where he joined his sister and opened his own barber shop. He began working as an apprentice to Dr.Henry W Palmer, studying with him for two years. In 1880, Williams entered Chicago Medical College.
1878- Apprentice to Dr Henry W. Palmer
1891- Surgeon
1894- Chief Surgeon at Freedman’s Hospital
1897- Illinois Department of Health
Honorary degrees from Howard and Wilberforce Universities
Charter member of American College of Surgeons
Williams married Alice Johnson in 1898 and moved back to Chicago, left his job at Freedman’s Hospital, and returned to work at Provident Hospital. Soon after the turn of the century, he worked at Cook County Hospital and later at St Luke’s, a large medical institution with plentiful resources.
https://www.biography.com/scientist/daniel-hale-williams
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Hale_Williams#:~:text=Early%20life,-Later%20photo%20of&text=Williams%20was%20born%20in%201856,a%20brother%20and%20five%20sisters.
https://prezi.com/-pmjlgmczvgi/drdaniel-hale-williams/#:~:text=%22Anything%20is%20possible%20when%20it’s,love%20or%20it%20will%20fail.%22
https://columbiasurgery.org/news/daniel-hale-williams-and-first-successful-heart-surgery
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