Benjamin Waterhouse (1754-1846)

Benjamin Waterhouse (1754-1846) was an early US alumnus of Edinburgh University's Medical School who co-founded Harvard Medical School and became the first doctor to test the small-pox vaccine in the United States.

Waterhouse was born to a Quaker family in Newport, Rhode Island. He was apprenticed to a doctor in his hometown then, at the age of 21, travelled to Europe to further his medical studies. Having first studied under John Fothergill (1712-1780) in London, he spent nine months at Edinburgh University attending the classes of William Cullen (1710-1790), Professor of Institutes of Medicine. He subsequently matriculated at Leiden University where he graduated M.D. in 1778.

On his return to the United States, he co-founded Harvard Medical School in 1782 with John Warren (1753-1815) and Aaron Dexter (1750-1829). He was appointed as the first Professor of Theory and Practice of Medicine at Harvard, a post he would combine, from 1784 onwards, with the Chair of Natural History at Rhode Island College. In the latter role, he delivered the first course of lectures on the natural history of the United States. He was forced to resign his Harvard professorship in 1814 due to his opposition to a plan to establish a medical school in Boston (and his attempt to set up a rival school). He went on to serve as a military medical superintendent in New England.