author
Edward Delafield
1794–1875
A pioneering New York physician, he helped establish one of the first eye hospitals in the Western Hemisphere and played a major role in shaping American ophthalmology. His career also reached into obstetrics and gynecology, showing the wide range of nineteenth-century medicine.
1 Audiobook
An inaugural dissertation on pulmonary consumption
by Edward Delafield
About the author
Born in New York City in 1794, Edward Delafield studied at Yale and then at the College of Physicians and Surgeons. He became known as a skilled physician at a time when American medicine was still developing its institutions and specialties.
Delafield is best remembered as a co-founder of the New York Eye Infirmary, created with John Kearny Rodgers in 1820. The hospital became an important center for eye care, and Delafield later served as the first president of the American Ophthalmological Society. He was also active in obstetrics and gynecology, and from 1858 until his death he served as president of the College of Physicians and Surgeons.
He died in 1875, leaving behind a reputation as one of the early figures who helped organize and professionalize medical care in New York. His name remains closely linked with the growth of eye medicine in the United States.