William Stewart Halsted

William Stewart Halsted
William Stewart Halsted in 1922
Born	September 23, 1852 New York City
Died	September 7, 1922 (aged 69) Johns Hopkins Hospital
Nationality	United States
Fields	Medicine
Institutions	Johns Hopkins Hospital
Alma mater	Yale University; College of Physicians & Surgeons of Columbia University
Known for	inventing the residency training system in U.S. Mastectomy Introduced rubber surgical gloves
Influences	Theodor Billroth

inventing the residency training system in U.S.
Mastectomy

William Stewart Halsted, M.D. (September 23, 1852 – September 7, 1922) was an American surgeon who emphasized strict aseptic technique during surgical procedures, was an early champion of newly discovered anesthetics, and introduced several new operations, including the radical mastectomy for breast cancer. Along with William Osler (Professor of Medicine), Howard Atwood Kelly (Professor of Gynecology) and William H. Welch (Professor of Pathology), Halsted was one of the "Big Four" founding professors at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. His operating room at Johns Hopkins Hospital is in Ward G, and was described as a small room where medical discoveries and miracles take place. According to an intern who once worked in Halsted's operating room, Halsted had unique techniques, operated on the patients with great confidence and often had perfect results which astonished the interns.

Throughout his professional life, he was addicted to cocaine and later also to morphine, which were not illegal during his time. As revealed by his Hopkins colleague Osler's diary, Halsted developed a high level of drug tolerance for morphine. He was "never able to be reduce the amount to less than three grains daily". The addictions were a direct result of Halsted's use of himself as an experimental subject, in investigations on the effects of cocaine as an anesthetic agent.

William S. Halsted was born on September 23, 1852 in New York City. His mother was Mary Louisa Haines and his father William Mills Halsted, Jr. His father was a businessman with Halsted, Haines and Company. Halsted was educated at home by tutors until 1862, when he was sent to boarding school in Monson, Massachusetts. He didn't like his new school and even ran away at one point. He was later enrolled at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, where he graduated in 1869. Halsted entered Yale College the following year. At Yale, Halsted was captain of the football team, played baseball and rowed on the crew team. Upon graduation from Yale in 1874, Halsted entered Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. He graduated in 1877 with a Doctor of Medicine degree. Though raised a Presbyterian, Halsted was an agnostic by adulthood.