author
Richard C. (Richard Clarke) Cabot
1868–1939
Remembered as a physician who helped bring social work into hospital care, he also reshaped how medicine was taught and discussed in the early 20th century. His work joined careful diagnosis with a strong interest in ethics, education, and the everyday realities of patients’ lives.
1 Audiobook
Social Work; Essays on the Meeting Ground of Doctor and Social Worker
by Richard C. (Richard Clarke) Cabot
About the author
Born in Brookline, Massachusetts, in 1868, Richard Clarke Cabot studied at Harvard College and Harvard Medical School before building a long career in medicine and teaching. He became known for work in clinical medicine and hematology, and he was closely associated with both Harvard and Massachusetts General Hospital.
Cabot is especially remembered as an early pioneer of medical social work. He argued that doctors needed to understand the social circumstances affecting illness, not just the physical symptoms, and he helped establish social service work within the hospital setting.
He also wrote and lectured widely on medical education, ethics, religion, and social questions. By the time of his death in 1939, he had earned a reputation as a physician, educator, and reform-minded thinker who pushed medicine toward a more humane and practical view of patient care.