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James R. Martin, M.D. (1886-1956)
Third Chairman
Second James Edwards Professor
(1939-1950) |
James Martin became a member of
the orthopaedic department in 1913 and served
originally as Rugh's assistant in private practice.
He received several promotions within the
Department leading to Assistant Professor and
Chief of the Outpatient Clinic by 1938. In that
year he resigned to accept appointments as Chief
Surgeon at the State Hospital for Crippled
Children at Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania, and
Director of the Social Security Programs for
Crippled Children in Pennsylvania. He was called
back to Jefferson in 1939 to become the second
James Edwards Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery.
In accord with his deep interest in the care of the
handicapped child, Martin initiated an association
between Jefferson and the State Hospital for
Crippled Children. Now known as the
Elizabethtown Hospital for Children and Youth,
the association begun by Martin has continued to
this day. Some Jefferson orthopaedic faculty
members still function as active consultants to that
institution and some Jefferson orthopaedic
residents receive a part of their education and
experience in children's orthopaedics there.
Martin was assisted in his teaching and clinical
duties by Drs. Arthur J. Davidson, M. Thomas
Horovitz, and Ralph C. Hand. In addition to
his duties at Jefferson, Dr. Hand functioned as
orthopaedic consultant to Saint Edmund's Home
for Crippled Children, now located in Rosemont,
Pennsylvania. The association between Jefferson
and St. Edmund's Home continued with Dr.
John J. Dowling (Jefferson, 1947) assuming the
consultant role on Dr. Hand's retirement in 1961.
Thomas Horovitz was a bright, energetic
orthopaedic surgeon whom many at Jefferson
considered to be of professorial caliber. He
contributed many fine papers to the orthopaedic
literature while in Philadelphia. Unfortunately,
Horovitz chose not to return to Philadelphia upon
his discharge from World War II service. He
relocated in Indianapolis, where he eventually
became a full Professor at the University of
Indiana Medical School.
James Martin lacked J. Torrence Rugh's
background and skill in operative orthopaedics. As
a consequence, some of the excitement and
forward motion generated clinically by Rugh's
introduction of new surgical techniques slowed
perceptibly. Davidson and Hand were of the old
school and not well versed or comfortable with
the new surgical techniques. With Horovitz's
decision not to return to Jefferson, none of the
remaining orthopaedic faculty had either the ski]]
or the inclination to pursue surgical correction of
physical deformities. Gradually, some of the
former mechanical treatment methods discarded by
Rugh were reintroduced by Martin
This reversal occurred at a time when national
interest in the surgical correction of physical
deformities was in the ascendancy. As a
consequence, the students sensed the subtle
change, and interest in orthopaedics among
students and hospital interns waned.
Martin was a kind and friendly man, dignified,
retiring, and unobtrusive. He was quite content
with his work and teaching at Jefferson and
shunned the national scene. He was a member of
the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons
but was never invited to join the American
Orthopaedic Association. As a consequence of his
totally local presence, orthopaedics at Jefferson lost
most of the national prominence it had gained
under Wilson and Rugh. |
The major accomplishment during Martin's
Chairmanship was the establishment of the
orthopaedic resident education program. It began
modestly in 1946 with two residents appointed
yearly and two hospitals, Jefferson and the State
Hospital for Crippled Children at Elizabethtown,
involved in the clinical experience. Thomas
S. Armstrong (Jefferson, 1941) was the first
Resident to complete the new program, and he
subsequently practiced orthopaedic surgery for
many years in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.
By 1945 it had become apparent to faculty
leaders at Jefferson that orthopaedic surgery was a
Department in a relatively stagnant state compared
to other medical schools. A quiet search for an
exciting, vigorous figure in orthopaedic surgery
led them to the Philadelphia Naval Hospital,
where Anthony F. DePalma (Jefferson, 1929), completing the final months of his service
commitment, had compiled an enviable surgical
record. He was induced in 1946 to come to
Jefferson to establish a practice with the
understanding he would eventually follow Martin
as Department Chairman.
Although Martin continued to function as
Department Chairman, DePalma's dynamic,
driving style soon stamped him as the leader in
everything but name only. Janles Martin served as
President of the Alumni Association in 1948 and
formally retired as Chairman in 1950. He then was
appointed Associate Dean of Jefferson Medical
College and served in this post until his death in
1956. This loyal and devoted Jeffersonian provided
funds in his will for the James R. Martin Nurses'
Residence, which was built on the southeast
corner of Eleventh and Walnut Streets, where Drs.
Thomas Dent Mutter and Samuel D. Gross
previously had lived.
Anthony F. DePalma, M.D.
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