Dr. Harvey Cushing, the father of modern neurosurgery, was born in Cleveland, Ohio on April 8, 1869. He was the first person to describe the Cushing reflex and Cushing’s disease.
The youngest of 10 kids, his parents sent him to the Cleveland Manual Training School which focused on experimental training and a physics-focused education. They also taught manual dexterity training which aided him in becoming surgeon. He studied at Yale as an undergrad and went to Harvard for medical school. He studied under William Stewart Halsted, a famous surgeon of the day.
By the age of 32, Cushing was an associate professor of surgery at Johns Hopkins and was the director of surgeries to the central nervous system. He pioneered operating with local anesthesia and was made a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1914.
During WWI he was commissioned as a major in the U.S. army and directed a hospital base in France. He later became a senior consultant for neurological surgery to the American Expeditionary Forces. By the end of the war he had climbed to the rank of colonel.
As an expert in his field, he made neurosurgery a separate discipline. His work improved patient survival, he introduced using X-rays to diagnose brain tumors and he was the leading teacher of neurosurgeons in the early 20th century.
Adapted from http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2015/04/today-lab-history-harvey-cushing
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