William Henry Welch (1850–1934): The Road to Johns Hopkins

Abstract

William Henry Welch's selection in 1884 as the first faculty member of the new medical school at Johns Hopkins created the invigorating atmosphere that generated the revolutionary changes in medical training and laboratory medicine that transformed medicine in America. Dr. Welch's family traditions, his New England upbringing, Yale education, and German university experience prepared a unique individual to lead American medicine into the 20th century.