This weekend, America celebrates her 250th birthday.
When most people think of my hometown of Philadelphia and its impact on the founding of our nation, they naturally think of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Liberty Bell.
But there is something many people do not realize.
At the very same time Philadelphia was helping to invent democracy, it was also inventing American medicine.
In many ways, the history of our nation and the history of American medicine were written on the very same streets.
It began in 1751 with Pennsylvania Hospital, founded by Benjamin Franklin and physician Thomas Bond. It became the first hospital in the United States.
Just a few years later came America’s first medical school, now known as the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, where I had the privilege of attending medical school.
The development of that first medical school forever changed how physicians would be educated throughout our country.
Then there was Dr. Benjamin Rush, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and often called the father of American psychiatry. His influence extended far beyond mental health.
Dr. Rush believed physicians had a responsibility not only to heal disease but also to improve society itself. I love that philosophy.
His passion for medical education helped shape generations of American physicians, and his influence continues today.
Philadelphia also gave birth to the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, America’s oldest private medical society, founded in 1787.
For nearly two and a half centuries, it has advanced science, ethics, education, and patient care. I am deeply honored to be a Fellow of this remarkable institution.
Throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Philadelphia became a world leader in surgery, anesthesia, pathology, neurology, pediatrics, transplantation, trauma care, and, of course, cardiovascular medicine.
Pioneers such as Samuel D. Gross, Thomas Dent Mรผtter, John H. Gibbon Jr., along with many other innovators throughout the city’s academic medical centers, including my former professor Jonathan E. Rhodes at Penn and today my colleague and partner Dr. Joseph E. Bavaria at Jefferson, helped transform medicine from an art into a science.
Today, institutions such as Thomas Jefferson University, Penn Medicine, Temple University, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and many others continue that extraordinary tradition of innovation, research, education, and compassionate patient care inspired by these great leaders.
As someone privileged to perform heart surgery at the Bruce and Robbi Toll Heart and Vascular Institute at Jefferson Health, I often think about the physicians who walked these same streets 200 and even 250 years ago.
The instruments have changed.
The technology has changed.
The operating rooms would be almost unrecognizable to them.
But one thing has never changed.
The calling to ease suffering, comfort families, push the boundaries of science, and above all else, care for another human being during their most vulnerable moments.
As America celebrates 250 years of freedom, we should also celebrate 250 years of medical innovation that has saved countless millions of lives.
And it all began right here in my hometown of Philadelphia.
I’m Dr. Raymond Singer. Remember, every heartbeat tells a story. Make yours a great one.
Interested in my book? You can buy it on Amazon!
(๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ท๐ช๐ฆ๐ธ๐ด ๐ฆ๐น๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ด๐ต๐ด ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฅ๐ฐ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ท๐ช๐ฆ๐ธ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฐ๐บ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ ๐ฐ๐ณ๐จ๐ข๐ฏ๐ช๐ป๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ.)
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