Howard Atwood Kelly
Baltimore, Baltimore, Maryland
Marker Inscription
Howard A. Kelly, M.D., pioneer gynecologist and "wizard of the operating room" as well as an early user of radium to treat cancer
Erected by Bolton Hill Historic District
The Story
Howard A. Kelly helped establish modern gynecologic surgery and was among the first American physicians to use radium to treat cancer. As one of the "Big Four" founding professors of the Johns Hopkins medical faculty, he brought new rigor and inventiveness to the operating room in the era when American medicine was becoming a science.
Why it matters
Kelly's career marks the moment Johns Hopkins helped turn Baltimore into a birthplace of modern, research-driven American medicine.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · Howard A. Kelly
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Daniel Coit Gilman
Baltimore, MD
Daniel Coit Gilman was the first president of Johns Hopkins University and the first director of its hospital, positions from which he reinvented American higher education. Championing original research and graduate study, he built an institution modeled on the pursuit of new knowledge rather than rote instruction. His example reshaped universities across the country.
William H. Halsted
Baltimore, MD
William H. Halsted was among the most influential surgeons in American history and one of the "Big Four" who founded the clinical services at Johns Hopkins. He introduced careful, tissue-sparing surgical techniques and a rigorous residency system that transformed the operating room from a place of speed into one of precision.
Franklin P. Mall
Baltimore, MD
Franklin P. Mall was a pioneering anatomist and embryologist and one of the principal architects of the Johns Hopkins Medical School. Working around the turn of the twentieth century, he helped build a rigorous, research-driven model of medical training. His influence helped make Baltimore a center of modern American medicine.
John Jacob Abel
Baltimore, MD
John Jacob Abel was a trailblazing pharmacologist whose research advanced the understanding of adrenalin, insulin, and the artificial kidney. Often called a father of American pharmacology, he pursued the chemistry of the body at Johns Hopkins in the early twentieth century. His work opened paths that later saved countless lives.