David Crombie, emeritus Chief of Surgery at Hartford Hospital, received the Nathan Smith Distinguished Service Award Sept. 17 at the Centennial Meeting of the New England Surgical Society in Boston.
In the 100 years of its existence, the award has only been given 23 times.
Also presented at the meeting was a book commemorating the 100th anniversary edited by Dr. Crombie, Dr. John Welch (emeritus at Hartford Hospital) and Dr. Walter Longo from Yale. Drs. Orlando Kirton and Karyn Butler contributed a chapter on the history of surgical intensive care in New England, Dr. Rocco Orlando wrote a chapter on the birth of minimally invasive surgery in New England and Dr. Robert Schweizer described the history of transplantation in New England.
Nathan Smith Distinguished Service Award
Nathan Smith, the first all-New England surgeon, was one of the most remarkable men ever to adorn the American surgical profession. Born in 1762 in Rehoboth, Massachusetts, his only education was from his parents, his father being a farmer-surveyor and his mother a midwife; from Doctor Josiah Goodhue, a prominent surgeon of the upper Connecticut Valley, and from the Harvard Medical School near the time of its inception. In addition he accomplished a period of eight months of study in Edinburgh and London.
During his long career, he was a major force in the establishment and development of Dartmouth Medical School while he developed an extensive surgical practice in the upper Connecticut Valley. Success in upper New England was followed by an appointment in the new Yale Medical School, where he made contributions as a surgeon, teacher and practitioner with attention to the necessary requirements of politics. He further directly contributed to the establishment of the new medical school at Bowdoin College and to the new medical school at the University of Vermont.
During this time his contributions to the practice of surgery were of great importance. Essays on typhus (typhoid) fever, on the pathology and treatment of necrosis (osteomyelitis) and in the performance of ovarian cystectomy were no-table. Other reports described new methods for fashioning skin flaps following amputation and the use of various apparatus for the treatment of fractures of the extremities. His record in urinary lithotomy was enviable.