The legacy of Harvey Cushing.

Abstract

Dr Harvey Cushing. Illustration by Venita Jay, MD, FRCPC. I is a formidable task for any biographer to record all of the achievements of Harvey William Cushing, commonly known as the Father of American Neurosurgery. Regarded as the leading neurosurgeon of the 20th century, Cushing was a tireless investigator, dedicated teacher, prolific writer, gifted artist, and ardent bibliophile. His name is known to every medical student and is immortalized in the well-known Cushing syndrome, Cushing disease, Cushing reflex, and Cushing ulcer. Cushing also left a lasting legacy in pathology with his work on the pituitary gland and brain tumors. Cushing launched neurosurgery as a distinct discipline and firmly established it as a separate specialty. Every phase of Cushing’s career has been the subject of intense scrutiny, with extensive biographies detailing his college days at Yale, medical training at Harvard, surgical residency at Johns Hopkins, and the years at Peter Bent Brigham and Yale. There are also several well-known biographies of Cushing, including those written by John F. Fulton, Elizabeth H. Thomson, and Justin F. Denzel. Born on April 8, 1869, in Cleveland, Ohio, Cushing was the youngest of 10 children, 7 of whom survived to maturity. His great-grandfather, grandfather, father, and older brother Ned were physicians. Cushing attended Yale College in New Haven, Conn, and graduated from that institution in 1891. While at Yale, Russell Chittenden encouraged in Cushing an interest in physiological chemistry. Cushing greatly admired his father and his brother Ned. He followed in the family tradition and embarked on a medial career, joining Harvard Medical School in Boston, Mass. Cushing attended Harvard from 1891 to 1896 and received his medical degree in 1895. He completed his internship at Massachusetts General Hospital. During his medical school years, Cushing was a keen and observant student, who was able to recognize the importance of new developments. Ether anesthesia had come into vogue, and medical students were called upon to administer it. One patient anesthetized by Cushing died, which disturbed Cushing so much that he wanted to quit medicine. Brooding over the tragedy and hoping that such deaths could be prevented if vital signs were monitored, he embarked on a new venture with fellow student Ernest Amory Codman. Together, they developed a record of an-