Dandy of Johns Hopkins

Abstract

Early 20th-century neurosurgery in the eastern United States was high-lighted by the Boston and Baltimore schools of Harvey Cushing and Walter Both Midwesterners came to the Johns Hopkins Medical Center—first Cushing and then Dandy, who became one of Cushing's residents. The conflicts between these strong-willed master surgeons are explored in this biography by William Lloyd Fox. He has tried to fill what he considers to be a gap in American medical history. He has used personal interviews with the Dandy family and with scores of doctors and laymen who knew Walter Dandy well. His correspondents include Cushing's biographer, John F. Fulton; Fox has had access to Dandy's personal and professional correspondence and has obviously read much of Dandy's prolific output (160 papers and five books). The biography as such is straightforward and largely chronological and follows a brief introductory chapter entitled Neurological Surgery Before Walter E. Dandy. The reader