Extended List of Southern Doctors

Students from the South educated at Penn Medical School

This list is excerpted from the full catalog of Penn Medical degree recipients. It includes three groups of students: 1) southern students and students from slave-owning states who wrote medical theses reflecting biopolitical concerns and beliefs in the uniqueness of southern diseases and climate;  2) foreign students from plantation societies; 3) students of race “science.” Thesis writers from the South repeatedly investigated women’s (and sometimes men’s) reproductive capacities; venereal disease and other impairments to female fertility; climatic influences on specific disease variations; and outbreaks of epidemic disease in particular southern locations.

Pre- 1820

  • Abbott, Robert   St. Croix 1811 “Cynanche Trachealis”
  • Armstrong, Francis  St. Croix 1809 “Hernia”
  • Baldwin, Robert T. Virginia “Puerperal Fever”
  • Bascombe, George C. H. Bermuda 1810 Hydrocele
  • Breton, Baron Fred. Von   St Crois 1814 “Irritability of the Nerves”
  • Britton, John De   St Croix 1807 “Menstruation”
  • Call, George Walker  Kentucky 1818 “Menstruation”
  • Chalvill, William G   Tortola 1799 “Sources of Malignant Bilious or Yellow Fever”
  • Cosby, James J. Louisiana 1819 “Medical Topography of Louisiana”
  • Curd, Edward Virginia 1819 “Uterine Hemorrhage”
  • Daniel, William C. Georgia 1815 “Structure of the Placenta”
  • Denny, Theodore Maryland 1810 “Menstruation”
  • Doyley, Daniel South Carolina 1806 “Vesiculae Seminales”
  • Drayton, Charles South Carolina 1809 “Partial Inversion of the Uterus”
  • Dudley, Benjamin W. Kentucky 1806 “Medical Topography of Lexington”
  • Frazer, Alexander  South Carolina, 1808 “An Attempt to prove that there is not definite Period
  • of Utero-Gestation”
  • Grayson, William Virginia 1808 “Nourishment of the Foetus in Utero”
  • Holt, David  Georgia 1819 “Nourishment of the Foetus in Utero”
  • Legare, Joseph D  South Carolina 1809  “Effects of the Imagination of the Mother on the
  • Foetus”
  • Roebuck, Jarvis  St. Croix 1801 “Experiments and Observations on the Bile”
  • Rousseau, John P. Hispaniola  1800 “Absorption”
  • Smith, Thomas  St. Croix 1805  “Wounds of the Intestines”
  • Starke, N.  South Carolina  1811 “Effects of the Mother’s Imagination on the Foetus”
  • Tebbs, Thomas F  Virginia 1816 “Typhous Epidemic of Virginia”
  • Van Brackle, Samuel H.  Saint Croix 1810 “Angina  Pectoris”
  • Walker, James  Virginia 1797 “Causes of Sterility in Both Sexes”
  • Williams, Mortimer  Virginia 1819 “Objections to Sympathetic Doctrine of Conception”
  • Wilson, John  Virginia 1808 “Transfusion of Blood”
  • Woodhull, John T. New Jersey  1808 “Albinos”

1820s

  • Anderson, Richard  South Carolina 1820  “Amenorrhoea”
  • Bland, Theodoric  Virginia 1827 “Bilious Fever of Virginia”
  • Bowie, Samuel Watt  South Carolina 1827 “Emansio Mensium”
  • Bradford, Harvey Kentucky 1819 “Sympathy”
  • Butler, Charles G  Virginia 1823 “Amenorrhoea”
  • Carver, Robert M. Virginia 1823 “Gonorrhoea”
  • Chew, Edward R. Louisiana 1829 “Strictures of the Urethra”
  • Claiborne, George Virginia 1821 “Bilious Diseases of King William County”
  • Cocke, Peyton Short Virginia 1827 “Puerperal Fever”
  • Cooke, James Virginia 1822 “Fever of Fredericksburg, 1821”
  • Colston, Raleigh T. Virginia 1821 “Menstruation”
  • Cunningham, John A. Virginia 1826 “Clothing”
  • Deas, Lynch H. South Carolina  1828 “Strictures in the Urethra”
  • Dew, William Virginia 1820 “Strictures of the Urethra”
  • Dickson, S.H. South Carolina  1819 “Yellow Fever of Charleston, 1817”
  • Doswell, Benjamin F. Virginia 1825 “Improvements in Surgery in the United States”
  • Dunscombe, Daniel L Virginia 1823 “Impregnation”
  • Durkee, Robert Aloysius  Maryland 1822 “De Cubeba in Gonorrhoea”
  • DuBose, Alfred B.C. South Carolina 1827 “Non-mercurial Practice in Syphilis”
  • Eve, Paul F. Georgia  1828 “Uterine Hemorrhage”
  • Fearn, Richard Lee Alabama 1827  “Experiments and Observations on Tendons”
  • Lynch, Micajah T.  Virginia 1823 “Epidemic Fever of Virginia”
  • McCas, William L.  South Carolina 1823 “Diseases of Slaves on the Wateree River”
  • McCormick, Cyrus  Virginia 1827 “Bilious Fever of Virginia
  • McDowell, Alexander  South Carolina 1824 “Generation”
  • Parham, John G.  Virginia 1825 “Autumnal Fever of Greensville”
  • Potts, John Wesley  North Carolina 1829  “Medical Tophography and Autumnal Fever of
  • Washington, North Carolina”
  • Robinson, Joseph H.  St Croix 1828 “Cornus Circinata”
  • Smith, William R  Virginia 1829 “Anatomy and Functions of the Skin”
  • Terrill, George Virginia  1826 “Medical Observations, made during a short Cruise on the
  • Western Coast of Africa, in the Summer of 1824”
  • Thompson, James W. Virginia 1825 “ Medical Topography and Diseases of the Valley of Virginia”
  • Thornton, Hudson A. Georgia 1823 “Marsh Miasmata”
  • Tinsley, George Wythe  Virginia 1828 “Deranged Menstruation”
  • Urquiola, Joseph M.  Cuba 1829 “Menstruation”
  • Wilkins, Paul H.  Georgia 1825 “Yellow Fever of Savannah”
  • Wilson, Hugh  Virginia 1826 “Puerperal Fever”

1830s

  • Anderson, Richard  Virginia 1834 “Gonorrhoea”
  • Bacon, John E. Georgia 1833 “Tampon in Uterine Hemorrhage”
  • Bartlett, John William  West Indies 1835 “Hemorrhagy”
  • Beall, Jeremiah  Georgia 1831 “Dysmenorrhoea”
  • Berkeley, Carter N.  Virginia 1837 “Fever peculiar to the Blacks of the South”
  • Birchett, George K. Virginia  1832 “Syphilis”
  • Boulware, William P. Virginia 1836 “Gonorrhoea”
  • Boyle, Thomas M. Virginia 1830 “Amenorrhoea”
  • Brockenbrough, Wm A. Virginia  1831 “Diseases Incident to the tide-water Section of Eastern
  • Virginia”
  • Brown, John N. Virginia 1836 “Gonorrhoea”
  • Brown, Raliegh T. Virginia  1836 “Menstruation”
  • Buchanan, Archibald H. Tennessee 1834 “Mental Derangement”
  • Burton, Selden M. Virginia 1836 “Functions of Placenta”
  • Carraway, James S. Mississippi 1830 “Puerperal Convulsions”
  • Carter, Francis   Alabama 1838 “Some of the physical peculiarities and diseases of southern  
  • negroes”
  • Chisholm, James G.  Alabama 1837 “Reproduction”
  • Clarke, Richard Virginia 1835 “Puerperal Fever”
  • Cobb, George  Virginia 1832 “Retention and Suppression of the Menses”
  • Cochran, William A.  Alabama 1839 “Syphilis”
  • Constable, Thomas F. Virginia 1839 “Amenorrhoea”
  • Cooper, Thomas  Virginia 1831 “Pathological Observations Illustrated by Cases”
  • Cowan, Joseph  Virginia, 1832 “Gonorrhoea VIrulents”
  • Craghead, Wm Glenn Virgnia 1835 “Amenorrhoea”
  • Cross, Richard  Virginia 1834 “Conception”
  • Daniel, John H.  Virginia 1837 Syphilis”
  • Davidson, John P. Louisiana 1832 “Yellow Fever”
  • Davis, Stephen Alabama 1838 “Atmospheric Air”
  • Davison, Alexander M’D. Virginia 1835 “Gonorrhoea”
  • Dillon, Alexander S. Virginia 1837 “Gonorrhoea”
  • Dillon, John G. Virginia 1831 “Puerperal Fever”
  • Dulin, Alex Franklin Virginia 1830 “Peritonitis Puerperalis”
  • Early, John F. Virginia 1838 “Menstruation”
  • Edwards, William H. Tennessee 1837 “Pathology of Miasmatic Fever”
  • Harding, William H.  Virginia 1838 “Lingering Labor”
  • Johnston, John G. Georgia 1839 “The means of lessening the pains of Parturition”
  • Kortright, Charles E Porto Rico 1838 “Traumatic Tetanus”
  • Kownslar, Randolph  Virginia 1831 “Copulation and Fecundation”
  • Lindsay, Caleb  Alabama 1836 “Epidemic Gastric Fever of South Alabama”
  • Malone, Samuel Booth  Alabama 1831 “Inguinal Ganglionitis peculiar to the West Coast of
  • South America”
  • Maynard, Joseph P  Barbadoes 1839 “Nervous Asthenia”
  • Ogilby, Hugh J. Georgia  1835 “Medical Topography and Diseases of Morgan County, Georgia”
  • Pena, Auxencio Maria  Venezuela 1836 “Elephantiasis”
  • Punnett, John   St. Thomas 1834 “Lithotomy”
  • Ramsay, William G.  South Carolina 1833 “Phsyiological Difference of the European and the
  • Negro”
  • Shelby, John L  Georgia 1837 “Autumnal Fevers of Georgia”
  • Smith, James M.  West Indies 1835  “Pertussis”
  • Stubbes, Richard West Indies  1835 “Peculiarities of the Female System”
  • Thornton, George W.  Virginia 1837 “Superfoetation”
  • Thorp, Joseph B. J. L.  Georgia 1837 “Urethritis”
  • Tuggle, Richard Virginia 1839 “Menstruation”
  • Tull, John G.  North Carolina 1839 “Amenorrhea”
  • Turpin, Philip  Virginia 1832 “Instrumental Labor”
  • Walker, Joseph  Bermuda 1836 “Hydrops”
  • Watson, Edwin  Virginia 1834 “Puerperal Convulsions”
  • Webb, William T.  Alabama 1838 “Hygiene as Applicable to Alabama”

1840s

  • Abbott, Robert O. West Indies  1847 “Pathological Changes of the Blood”
  • Allen, William D. Arkansas 1849 “Quinine in Southern Fevers”
  • Anderson, Daniel B. Tennessee 1841 “Menstruation and its concomitant diseases”
  • Anderson, Thomas J. Alabama  1842 “On Hygiene”
  • Archer, Edgar  Virginia 1849 “Blood in Disease”
  • Archer, Junius, Virginia 1844 “Puerperal Fever”
  • Bailey, Giles P. North Carolina 1849 “Amenorrhoea”
  • Banister, Monro  Virginia 1842 “Puerperal Fever”
  • Banks, William H. North Carolina 1842 “Puerperal Peritonitis”
  • Barnet, Gabinus J. Cuba  1857 “Iodide of Starch as a substitute for Co-liver Oil in the Treatment
  • of Phthisis Pulmonalia”
  • Baskervill, Robert D. Virginia 1846 “Syphilis”
  • Bastida, Joseph S. Cuba 1845 “Angina Pectoris”
  • Battle, Thomas W. Georgia 1840 “Yellow Fever”
  • Baxter, Oscar F. North Carolina “Parturition”
  • Berkey, Michael Indiana 1841 “Fecundation and Gestation”
  • Blount, H. Wistar  North Carolina 1846 “Origin and Non-contagiousness of Yellow Fever”
  • Bobo, Charles D. South Carolina 1841 “Menstruation”
  • Booth, William A. Tennessee  1840 “Abortion”
  • Boyd, Andrew T. Tennessee 1841 Puerperal Peritonitis”
  • Brinson, William A.  Georgia 1842 “Congestive Fever of the South”
  • Briscoe, John Virginia 1841 “Miasmata”
  • Brooke, Alexander T. Virginia 1841 “Spermatorrhoea”
  • Brown, Patrick W. Virginia 1841 “Hysterotomy”
  • Brown, Samuel J. Virginia 1846 “Anatomy and Functions of the Sympathetic”
  • Brown, William Howard Missouri  1845 “Intermittent Fever of Missouri”
  • Burge, Lorenzo N. Georgia 1841 “Conception”
  • Caldwell, Groves Alabama 1845 “Puerperal Fever”
  • Carleton, J. M. H. Georgia 1849 “Classification of Skin Diseases”
  • Carrington, Paul J. Virginia  1845 “Menstruation”
  • Carrington, William F. Virginia  1845 “Puerperal Fever”
  • Chamberlaine, Samuel Maryland 1842 “Urethral Stricture”
  • Clarkson, Robert W. Virginia 1849 “Puerperal Fever”
  • Cole, William W. Alabama 1849 “Uterine Hemorrhage”
  • Coleman, Charles W. Virginia 1847 “Miasmata”
  • Coleman, William H. Alabama 1843 “Congestive Fever of the South”
  • Conway, James H. Virginia 1843 “Menstruation”
  • Craddock, Charles J. Virginia 1841 “Revolutions in the Theory and Practice of Medicine”
  • Crane, Jonas Virgnia 1849 “Puerperal Convulsions”
  • Crenshaw, Octavius A. VIrginia 1844 “Spermatorrhoea”
  • Curtis, Charles F. Alabama 1840 “Medicine as it flourished in Arabia”
  • Dailey, Robert W. Virginia 1842 “Amenorrhoea”
  • Dawson, John East Indies 1848 “Theory of Cholera—Asiatical Epidemics”
  • DeGraffenreid, Edwin F. Georgia 1846 “Reproduction of Animal Life”
  • Des Chapelles, Aristedes Bretton  Cuba 1849 “Yellow Fever”
  • Dillard, Richard Virginia 1844 “Strictures of the Urethra”
  • DuVal, John Pope Florida 1846 “Marsh Miasmata”
  • DuVall, Edmund P. Maryland 1847 “Menstruation”
  • Eborn, John R. North Carolina 1846 “Influence of the Genital Organs”
  • Edmunds, Benjamin C. North Carolina  1848 “Asiatic Cholera”
  • Egan, John F. St Croix  1842 “Blood”
  • Emlen, James V. Delaware 1849 “Puerperal Peritonitis”
  • Thweat, John Virginia 1846 “Gonorrhroea”
  • Tompkins, Francis Otway Virginia 1842 “Menstruation”
  • Tucker, George W. Mississippi 1846 “Yellow Fever”
  • Tyler, Samuel Maryland 1842 “De Peritonite Puerperali”
  • Walker, James C. North Carolina 1841 “Nourishment of Infants”
  • Waller, Nelson S  Virginia 1841 “Menorrhagia”
  • Ward, James R. Alabama 1849 “Irritable Uterus”
  • Warren, Michael S. Jr.,  Virginia, 1845 “Diseases of Pregnancy”
  • Waters, Richard J. Missouri 1849 “Theories of Generation”
  • Webb, James Alabama 1848 “Menstruation”
  • Wellford, Armistead N. Virginia 1848 “Application of Ether to Surgery”
  • White, John F. Virginia 1842 “Prolapsus Uteri”
  • Wickham, Robert C. Virginia  1846 “State during Pregnancy”
  • Wilkinson, T.  Alabama 1844 “Moral Medicine”
  • Williams, Henry F. North Carolina  1844 “Menstruation”
  • Williams, Matthew  W. North Carolina 1845 “Spermatorrhoea”
  • Wingfield, Charles L. Virginia 1848 “Irritable Uterus”
  • Winston, James B. Virginia “1841 “Uterine Hemorrhage”
  • Womack, James G. North Carolina 1840 “Bilious Congestive Fever”
  • Woolf, Wynfield South Carolina 1845  “Placenta”
  • Workman, Thomas J.  1846 South Carolina ”Puerperal Fever”
  • Wylie, William  South Carolina 1844 “Epidemic of Lancaster District”

1850s

  • Abernathy, C. Clayton  Tennessee 1851 “Marsh Miasma”
  • Arjona, Joseph E. Panama 1859 Pneumonia
  • Avera, Thomas H. North Carolina 1854 “Mental and Physical Education of Females”
  • Baker, Joseph H. North Carolina 1854 “Syphilis, Primary and Constitutional”
  • Baldridge, John M. Tennessee 1856 “The Uterus”
  • Barret, Junius V. Alabama 1856 “Puerperal Fever”
  • Baxter, Joseph J. North Carolina 1856 “Diseases of Eastern North Carolina”
  • Baylor, Richard H. L. Virginia 1853 “Eclampsia Gravidarum et Parturientium”
  • Beall, Adam J. Georgia 1851 “Induction of Premature Labor”
  • Bellamy, Eugene C. Georgia 1855 “Yellow Fever”
  • Binion, Algernon H. Alabama 1855 “Yellow Fever”
  • Birchett, Theophilius G. Mississippi 1856 “Epidemic Cholera”
  • Bird, James C. Delaware 1853 “Uterine Hemorrhage”
  • Bolton, Edward D. Louisiana 1858 “Yellow Fever in Norfolk”
  • Booth, John W. North Carolina 1858 “Mammary Inflammation”
  • Bostick, Richard S. South Carolina 1855 “Causes of Yellow Fever”
  • Boyd, John M. Tennessee 1856 “Anaesthesia in Labor”
  • Bramham, Horace N. Virginia 1855 “Uterine Hemorrhage”
  • Brassell, Philip H. Georgia 1850 “Abortion”
  • Brice, Walter South Carolina 1851 “Human Blood”
  • Burgess, S. Nelson  South Carolina 1855 “Anaesthetics”
  • Butler, S. W. Cherokee Nation, 1850 “Uses of Hydrangea Aroborescens”
  • Butt, Jas. N. North Carolina 1855 “Duties and Imperfections of a Physician”
  • Bynum, Mark W. Mississippi 1857 “Epidemic Cholera”
  • Byrne, Albert C. Virginia 1854 “Physiology of the Brain, with a Refutation of Phrenological
  • Doctrine”
  • Caperton, George H. Virginia 1853 “Syphilis”
  • Carter, John L. Mississippi 1857 “Anaesthesia”
  • Catlett, George C. Kentucky 1851 “Febris Puerpera”
  • Cecil, Thos. W. (M.D.) Virginia 1857 “Polypus of the Uterus”
  • Chappell, John R. Virginia 1850 “Cholera as it prevailed in Petersburg, Va., in 1849”
  • Chase, Benjamin D. Mississippi 1855 “Morbid Dentition”
  • Cocke, William H. Virginia 1854 “Yellow Fever”
  • Coke, George H. Virginia 1855 “Puerperal Peritonitis”
  • Cook, Philip H. Tennessee 1854 “Epidemic Dysentery of 1853 in Williams County. Tenn.”
  • Coppedge, Oliver D. North Carolina 1857 “Anatomy and Physiology of the Skin”
  • Cottar, Wm. A. South Carolina 1859 “Hygiene”
  • Cottilla, Edward F. Cuba 1857 “Leprosy”
  • Cousins, A.S. Virginia 1857 “The Physician’s Life”
  • Cox, David North Carolina 1855 “Gonorrhoea”
  • Craigen, Wm. J. Dist. Columbia 1859 “The Menses—a Secretion of Hemorrhage”
  • Crowder, John J. Virginia 1853 “Menstruation”
  • Crump, Turner W. Tennessee 1853 “Gonorrhoea”
  • Daniel, Benjamin W. Georgia 1858 “Conception”
  • Daniel, Richard P. Florida, 1851 “Dengue as it appeared in Jacksonville, in 1850”
  • Davis, William J. Louisiana 1851 “Foetal Circulation”
  • Dawson, Ezekiel Delaware  1853 “Physical Degeneration of the Human Race”
  • Day, David  Minnesota 1854 “Medicine Among the Indians”
  • Dimmitt, Elijah C. Kentucky 1857 “The Early Treatment of Children”
  • Dortch, Caleb W. Mississippi 1853 “ Anatomy, Physiology, and Hygiene of Respiratory Organs”
  • Drewry, S.D. Virginia 1855 “Menstruation”
  • Dugger, Reuben H. Alabama 1858 “Irritable Uterus, its Causes and Treatment”
  • Duncan, T. F. Georgia 1855 “Miasmata”
  • Easley, Wm. D. 1855 “Retroflexion and Retroversion of the Uterus”
  • Eastman, Thomas J. Wisconsin 1854 “Some of the Differences observed between the Saxon and
  • Negro”
  • Easton, Thomas S. Alabama 1854 “Yellow Fever”
  • Eichelberger, Geo. M. South Carolina 1855 “”Philosophy of Hygiene”
  • Eneas, Jeremiah Bahamas  1852 “Gonorrhoea and its Consequences”
  • Estes, Henderson Tennessee 1857 “The Human Organism”
  • Turner, James H. Virginia 1851 “Miasma”
  • Wall, Asa  Virginia 1854 “Stricture of the Urethra”
  • Wallace, J. Gordon  Virginia 1850 “Menstruation”
  • Warr, Americus V. Tennessee 1858 “Menorrhagia”
  • Watts, Jesse A. Virginia 1854 “Hygienic Education of Children”
  • Whitefield, George Alabama 1856 “Acute Cystitis”
  • Whitefield, Richard H.   Alabama 1853 “Accoucheur vs. Accoucheuse”
  • Whiting, J. Buchanan  Virginia 1850 “Anaesthetic Agents as Adapted to Surgery”
  • Whiting, John C.  Alabama 1859 “Yellow Fever”
  • Wilkerson, Benjamin C.  North Carolina 1859 “Syphilis”
  • Williams, Philip C. Virginia 1850 “Acclimation”
  • Williams, Rush F. North Carolina  1858 “Medical Topography and Enteric Fever”
  • Wilson, Augustus  Cuba 1851 “Yellow Fever”
  • Wilson, William L. Tennessee 1857 “Laws of Generation”
  • Wiseman, James W.  North Carolina 1851 “Menstrual Secretion”
  • Withers, John W. Alabama  1857 “Puerperal Peritonitis”
  • Witten, Thomas G.  Virginia 1850 “Physiological Conditions of Human Life”
  • Wood, Arthur F. Mississippi 1852 “Amenorrhea”
  • Woodson, Everette W. Kentucky  1854 “The Duties, Trials and Pleasures of a Physician”
  • Wortabet, Gregory M.  Syria 1859 “Syria—its Diseases and Drugs”

See links to find student work detailing the lives and work of Penn-taught doctors

Medical Professors and Graduates
List of Southern Doctors
Medical Education