William H. Welch

William Henry Welch ( born April 8, 1850 in Norfolk, Litchfield County, Connecticut, † April 30, 1934 in Baltimore, Maryland ) was one of the most influential physicians in the late 19th and early 20th century in the USA. He played a leading role both in the control of a serious measles epidemic in the 1910s as well as in the fight against the Spanish flu of 1918 was rife worldwide by 1920 and at least 25 million deaths demanded.

Welch was born into a family of doctors. His grandfather, a great-uncle, his father and four of his uncles were practicing physicians; his father William W. Welch was also politically active and Congressman for Connecticut. He studied at Yale University at a time when the medical training compared to Europe had not yet progressed very far. Welch, who met the standard of medical education in Europe in the 1870s, has contributed greatly to the scientific nature of the medical studies. He organized in 1879 the laboratory courses in which, among other regular microscopes were first used in the United States. Among his pupils was, among others, Harvey Cushing.

After William Henry Welch a, awarded by the American Association for the History of Medicine Medal was named, are awarded annually authors fundamentally important medical works. Be first 1950 Henry E. Sigerist was awarded for his scientific work.