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American Medical Biographies/Shoemaker, John Veitch

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Note: Dr. Shoemaker was born in 1852, not 1858 as this entry reads. The source article in the Journal of the American Medical Association (Vol. 55, No. 17, Oct. 22, 1910, p. 1485) reads that he died at age 52. JAMA published a correction (Vol. 55, No. 19 Nov. 5, 1910, p. 1655) noting that he in fact died at age 58.

1825631American Medical Biographies — Shoemaker, John Veitch1920

Shoemaker, John Veitch (1858–1910)

Born in 1858, he graduated A. B. and A. M. from Dickinson College and M. D, from Jefferson Medical College in 1874. He was a member of the American Academy of Medicine; Association of Military Surgeons of the United States; British Medical Association and London Medical Society; president of the American Medical Editors' Association and president of the American Therapeutic Association: demonstrator and lecturer on anatomy, and lecturer on cutaneous affections in Jefferson Medical College from 1874 to 1886; professor of cutaneous diseases and materia medica and therapeutics since 1886 in the Medico-Chirurgical College, and president of the institution since 1890; senior physician to the Medico-Chirurgical Hospital; founder of the Medical Bulletin in 1879, and Medical Register in 1887; and editor of the Medical Times and Register.

He was surgeon-general of the State of Pennsylvania from 1898 to 1902; and during the Spanish-American War raised the necessary funds and presented to the State of Pennsylvania a fully-equipped hospital train for the transportation of its sick soldiers from Camp Alger, Virginia. He was commissioned first lieutenant, Medical Reserve Corps, United States Army, in 1898.

In 1876 he married Jennie M. Logan, of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania.

Dr. Shoemaker was a prolific contributor to the literature of dermatology, materia medica and therapeutics. He wrote "Practical Treatise on Diseases of the Skin," pp. 633, 1888: "Practical Treatise on Materia Medica and Therapeutics," 2nd ed., 1046 pp., 1893. He exploited the use of oleates in skin diseases and wrote "Ointments and Oleates Especially in Diseases of the Skin," 2nd ed., 298 pp., 1890. Altogether there are twenty-seven titles of his writings in the Surgeon-General's catalogue. He died at his home in Philadelphia, October 11, 1910, from acute nephritis, aged fifty-two.

Jour. Amer. Med. Assoc., 1910, vol. lv., 1485.