Harvey Cushing and some Australian connections: Part 2 – post World War 1

Abstract

Part 1 of this article (see Vol 17, pp. 168–172) described the early life of Harvey Cushing and his encounters with Australian doctors, mostly in various military hospitals, in France, in World War 1. As none of the doctors he met at that time became neurosurgeons, and hence did not shape their professional development. When World War 1 ended, HC returned to a heavy schedule of operating at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital and to his university obligations. He received the Companion of the Bath from the British Government for his war services and wrote the history of US Base Hospital No. 5, which he directed during the War. Cushing’s reputation as a neurosurgeon was now secure and he was ready to play an even greater part as an academic neurosurgeon, teaching students from all parts of the world and continuing his researches into cerebral tumours and the pituitary gland.