Feinberg School of Medicine - Notable Alumni

Notable Alumni

• Mary Harris Thompson, Class of 1870, ad eundem, first female surgeon in Chicago and first female surgeon at Cook County Hospital. Founder of the Mary Thomson Hospital
• Robert F. Spetzler, the most prolific vascular neurosurgeon in the world, and director of the famous Barrow Neurological Institute
• Roswell Park, Class of 1876, prominent surgeon for who the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, NY, is named
• Franklin H. Martin, Class of 1880, founder of the American College of Surgeons and founding editor of Surgery, Gynecology, and Obstetrics
• Daniel Hale Williams, Class of 1883, performed the first successful American open heart surgery; only black charter member of the American College of Surgeons
• Charles Horace Mayo, Class of 1888, founder of Mayo Clinic
• Carlos Montezuma, Class of 1889, one of the first Native Americans to receive a Doctor of Medicine degree from any school, and founder of the Society of American Indians
• Joseph Bolivar DeLee, Class of 1891, among the first American physicians to specialize in obstetrics and gynecology, author of major textbook, Principles and Practice of Obstetrics, for seven editions
• Isaac Arthur Abt, Class of 1891, among the first American physicians to specialize in pediatrics, author of the major pediatric textbook of the first decades of the 20th century
• Howard T. Ricketts, Class of 1897, discovered bacteria of the genus Rickettsia, and identified the cause and methods of transmission of rocky mountain spotted fever
• Allen B. Kanavel, Class of 1899, founder, regent, and president of the American College of Surgeons, internationally recognized as founder of modern hand and peripheral nerve surgery
• Theodore K. Lawless, Class of 1919, African-American dermatologist and philanthropist; advanced the treatment of leprosy and syphilis
• Alfred Bitini Xuma, Class of 1926, surgeon in Johannesburg and later president (1940–49) of the African National Congress, preceding Nelson Mandela. The first black South African to graduate from the London School of Tropical Diseases and Hygiene (1932)
• J. Roscoe Miller, Class of 1930, president, Northwestern University 1949-1969; dean, Northwestern University Medical School, 1941-1949
• Robert F. Furchgott, Class of 1940, 1998 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discovery of EDRF
• Cheddi Jagan, Class of 1946: President of Guyana from 1992–1997
• Ralph S. Paffenbarger, Class of 1947, epidemiologist, leader of the College Alumni Health Study in the 1960s, which established the health benefits of exercise, considered the father of the modern fitness movement
• Quentin D. Young, Class of 1947, leader in public health policy and medical and social justice issues; founded Physicians for a National Health Program and co-founded the Medical Committee for Human Rights,
• Kermit E. Krantz, Class of 1948, Distinguished University Professor of Medicine, University of Kansas. Developed the Marshall-Marchetti-Krantz (MMK) and invented the expandable tampon. Namesake of the Arey/Krantz Museum of Anatomy at the Feinberg School of Medicine.
• John A. D. Cooper, Class of 1951, first president of the Association of American Medical Colleges
• Thomas E. Starzl, Class of 1952, performed the first successful liver transplant in 1967 and received the National Medal of Science in 2004
• Joseph P. Kerwin, first physician in space, flew on three skylab missions and later served as director of Space and Life Sciences at NASA;
• Alan R. Nelson, Class of 1958, president of the American Medical Association (1989–90) and the World Medical Association (1991–92)
• Myles Cunningham, Class of 1958, president of the American Cancer Society, 1997
• Sandra F. Olson, Class of 1963, GME 1969, first woman president of American Academy of Neurology, the Illinois State Medical Society, the Chicago Medical Society, and the Chicago Neurological Society
• Joseph Silva, Class of 1966, dean, University of California–Davis School of Medicine, 1997-2005
• Eugene A. Bauer, Class of 1967, vice president for medical affairs and dean, Stanford University School of Medicine, 1995-2001
• Jay Perman, Class of 1972, president, University of Maryland, Baltimore, 2010 – present, dean, University of Kentucky College of Medicine, 2004-2010
• C. Richard Schlegel, Class of 1972, developed the dominant patent for a vaccine against human papillomavirus (HPV) (administered as Gardasil) to prevent cervical cancer
• David J. Skorton, Class of 1974, president, Cornell University 2006 – present
• Joseph A. Walder, Class of 1975, founder and CEO of Integrated DNA Technologies, the largest supplier of custom nucleic acids in the United States
• Ora Pescovitz, Class of 1979, executive vice president for medical affairs, University of Michigan; CEO, University of Michigan Health System
• Andrew E. Senyei, Class of 1979, inventor, venture capitalist, and entrepreneur, founder of biotech and genetics companies
• David J. Smith, Class of 1981, Read Admiral, joint staff surgeon/chief medical advisor to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; United States delegate to the North American Treaty Organization Council of Medical Directors
• Boris Lushniak, Class of 1981, Rear Admiral, deputy U.S. Surgeon General
• James P. Kelly, Class of 1983, director, National Intrepid Center of Excellence
• Peter G. Traber, Class of 1984, president, Baylor College of Medicine, 2003-2008
• Michael Barratt, Class of 1985, NASA mission specialist, 2000–present; member International Space Station Expeditions 19 and 20, 2009
• Harold Paz, GME 1985 and 1986, vice president and dean, Penn State Hershey Medical College
• Debi Thomas, Class of 1997: 1988 Olympic Figure Skating Bronze Medalist and orthopedic surgeon