NEPA Vital Signs - Winter 2019 Spring 2020 - 26

L ACKMEDSOC.ORG

*

LUZERNEMEDSOC.ORG

Feature

A Study in Local Medical History

I

n 2004 a small group of physicians and
business leaders began to discuss the
feasibility of establishing a community
sponsored allopathic medical school in
northeastern Pennsylvania. They felt that
the 16 counties comprising the northeast
and part of central PA were the ones in
most need of a school at this time. There
followed an intense and ultimately successful effort to make this possibility a reality
by 2008. The most important elements in
the success were resiliency, innovation and
massive community support.
The founders knew that they were extending previous efforts made over time by area
physicians and hospitals. They were simply
building on the many laudable efforts of
many who went before them.

In 2016 the Lackawanna and Luzerne
county medical societies were combined,
resulting in the closure of the Scranton
offices. The Lackawanna organization had
assiduously kept medical society bulletins,
originally published six times annually and
dating back to 1910. The society offered
this collection to what was then The Commonwealth Medical College, which became
The Geisinger Commonwealth School of
Medicine in 2017.
A careful review of these hundreds of bulletins revealed numerous stories regarding
area medical development. Consequently
the decision was made to identify at least
a few medical pioneers based primarily on
their innovation resulting in substantial
medical benefit.
N E PA

26

VITAL SIGNS

The Luzerne county society had a very
interesting and valuable collection of medical artifacts put together in 1917 by Lewis
B. Taylor, M.D. (1850-1925) with the strong
recognition and support of William Osler,
M.D. (1849-1919). These artifacts formed
the heart of the display that was officially
opened by the medical school on March
8, 2018. In addition to the Luzerne county
contribution the collection was significantly
augmented by donations of items by area
medical families.
There were a number of physicians who
had pioneered medical care in the region
and of course all could not be highlighted,
but in addition to Dr. Taylor a few stood
out and are featured in the display. These
individuals include Benjamin H. Throop,
http://www.lackmedsoc.org http://www.LUZERNEMEDSOC.ORG
NEPA Vital Signs - Winter 2019 Spring 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of NEPA Vital Signs - Winter 2019 Spring 2020
