CLEVELAND MEDICAL SOCIETY - The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History

The CLEVELAND MEDICAL SOCIETY was organized in 1893 to advance medical science, promote the interests of the medical profession in Cleveland, and foster fraternal feeling among physicians. Incorporated in 1894, it was founded by physicians as a protest against the orientation and policies of the CUYAHOGA COUNTY MEDICAL SOCIETY. Dominated by older doctors, the county society held secretive afternoon meetings and made little attempt to attract new members. Younger physicians desired regular vigorous discussion with their colleagues on current medical issues, a permanent home, and access to a full spectrum of medical literature. The Cleveland Medical Society had 125 initial members, and by the end of the first year, 200 members from northeast Ohio. The society did not shy from controversy, and its quarterly meetings with out-of-town speakers--a national innovation--attracted 300-400. Its tolerance of HOMEOPATHY earned rebuke from the American Medical Assn. (AMA). The society's legislative committee, headed by social reformer and physician LOUIS B. TUCKERMAN†, lobbied for public health. When Dr. Albert Ohlmacher, a professor of pathology and bacteriology at the College of Wooster, reported his pioneer work on antitoxins, Tuckerman got society backing for the use of such antitoxins for free vaccines to combat diphtheria and tetanus. The Cleveland Medical Society supported the Cuyahoga County Medical Society and the Society for Medical Sciences (another dissident group) in forming the CLEVELAND MEDICAL LIBRARY ASSN. in 1894. Under pressure from the AMA, the Cleveland Medical Society joined in 1902 with the Cuyahoga County Medical Society to form the Cleveland ACADEMY OF MEDICINE OF CLEVELAND.

See also MEDICINE.

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