Lucius Duncan Bulkley

Born in New York City in 1845, Lucius Duncan Bulkley became one of the best-known American specialists in dermatology of his era. He studied at Yale and the College of Physicians and Surgeons, and much of his career grew out of an early family connection to the field through his father, a physician with an interest in skin disease.

Bulkley was a founder and editor of the Archives of Dermatology, described as the first English-language journal devoted to dermatology, and he led the New York Skin and Cancer Hospital. He wrote many medical books and articles, with subjects ranging from eczema and syphilis to diet, hygiene, and cancer.

His reputation in dermatology was significant in his lifetime, but some of his later views—especially his belief that cancer could be treated through diet and non-surgical methods—are now seen as outside accepted medical practice. That mix of genuine influence and controversial ideas makes him a particularly interesting figure in the history of medicine.