William Williams Keen (January 19, 1837 – June 7, 1932) was the first brain surgeon in the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. He also diagnosed Franklin Delano Roosevelt's polio and worked closely with six American Presidents.
Keen was born in Philadelphia. He studied at
Brown UniversityBrown University is a private university located in Providence, Rhode Island, and a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III...
, where he graduated in 1859. He graduated in
medicineMedicine is the art and science of healing. It encompasses a range of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....
from Jefferson Medical College in 1862. During the
American Civil WarThe American Civil War , also known as the War Between the States and several other names, was a civil war in the United States of America. Eleven Southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America...
, he worked for the U.S. Army as a
surgeonIn medicine, a surgeon is a person who performs surgery. Surgery is a broad category of invasive medical treatment that involves the cutting of a body, whether human or animal, for a specific reason such to remove a diseased organ or to repair a tear or breakage. Surgeons may be medical doctors,...
.
William Williams Keen (January 19, 1837 – June 7, 1932) was the first brain surgeon in the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. He also diagnosed Franklin Delano Roosevelt's polio and worked closely with six American Presidents.
Keen was born in Philadelphia. He studied at
Brown UniversityBrown University is a private university located in Providence, Rhode Island, and a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III...
, where he graduated in 1859. He graduated in
medicineMedicine is the art and science of healing. It encompasses a range of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....
from Jefferson Medical College in 1862. During the
American Civil WarThe American Civil War , also known as the War Between the States and several other names, was a civil war in the United States of America. Eleven Southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America...
, he worked for the U.S. Army as a
surgeonIn medicine, a surgeon is a person who performs surgery. Surgery is a broad category of invasive medical treatment that involves the cutting of a body, whether human or animal, for a specific reason such to remove a diseased organ or to repair a tear or breakage. Surgeons may be medical doctors,...
. After the war, and two years of studies in
ParisParis is the capital of France and the country's most populous city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
and
BerlinBerlin is the capital city and one of sixteen states of Germany. With a population of 3.4 million within its city limits, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city and the eighth most populous urban area in the European Union...
, he started lecturing
surgical pathologySurgical pathology is the most significant and time-consuming area of practice for most anatomical pathologists. Surgical pathology involves the gross and microscopic examination of surgical specimens, as well as biopsies submitted by non-surgeons such as general internists, medical subspecialists,...
in Philadelphia, where he founded the Philadelphia School of Anatomy. He was the father of
Dora KeenDora Keen was an American traveler and Alpinist, also a social and educational worker.-Early life:She was born in Philadelphia, a daughter of the surgeon W. W. Keen...
, the
AlpinistMountaineering is the sport, hobby or profession of walking, hiking, backpacking and climbing mountains. In Europe it is also referred to as alpinism, while in the Americas the term refers to a particular style of mountain climbing, that involves a mixture of ice climbing, rock climbing, mixed...
and a grandfather of Walter Jackson Freeman, champion of the
lobotomyLobotomy is a neurosurgical procedure, a form of psychosurgery, also known as a leukotomy or leucotomy . It consists of cutting the connections to and from the prefrontal cortex, the anterior part of the frontal lobes of the brain...
in America.
He became known in the medical community around the world for inventing several new procedures in brain surgery, including
drainageDrainage is the natural or artificial removal of surface and sub-surface water from an area. Many agricultural soils need drainage to improve production or to manage water supplies.-Early history:...
of the cerebral ventricles and removals of large
brain tumorA brain tumor is an abnormal growth of cells within the brain or inside the skull, which can be cancerous or non-cancerous .It is defined as any intracranial tumor created by abnormal and uncontrolled cell division, normally either in the brain itself , in the cranial nerves...
s. Keen also performed the first successful removal of a brain tumor.
Keen also participated in a secret surgical operation to remove a cancerous jaw tumor on US President
Grover ClevelandStephen Grover Cleveland was both the 22nd and 24th President of the United States. Cleveland is the only President to serve two non-consecutive terms and therefore is the only individual to be counted twice in the numbering of the presidents...
in 1893.
Keen died in Philadelphia.
Honors and recognition
He received honorary degrees from
Jefferson Medical CollegeThomas Jefferson University is a private health sciences university in Center City, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in the United States. The university consists of three constituent colleges, Jefferson Medical College, Jefferson College of Graduate Studies, and Jefferson College of Health...
and Brown, Northwestern, Toronto, Edinburgh, Yale, St. Andrews, Greifswald, and Upsala universities, and served as president of the American Surgical Association (1898), the
American Medical AssociationThe American Medical Association , founded in 1847 and incorporated 1897, is the largest association of physicians and medical students in the United States. While its membership has declined in recent years, it claims approximately 20% of practicing physicians as members...
(1900), the Congress of American Physicians and Surgeons (1903), and the
American Philosophical SocietyThe American Philosophical Society is a discussion group founded in 1743 by Benjamin Franklin as an offshoot of his earlier club, the Junto...
(after 1907).
New International EncyclopediaThe New International Encyclopedia was an English-language encyclopedia first published in the early 1900s. It was printed in two editions. The first edition was published from 1902 to 1914 by Dodd, Mead and Company. The second edition was copyrighted in 1917 and afterwards by Dodd, Mead and...
In 1914, at a meeting of the International Surgical Association, he was elected president for the meeting of 1917. After 1894 he was foreign corresponding member of the Société de Chirurgie de Paris, the Société Belge de Chirurgie, and the Clinical Society of London; honorary fellow of the
Royal College of Surgeons of EnglandThe Royal College of Surgeons of England is an independent professional body and registered charity committed to promoting and advancing the highest standards of surgical care for patients, regulating surgery, including dentistry, in England and Wales...
, the
Royal College of Surgeons of EdinburghThe Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, traces its origins to 1505 when the Barber Surgeons of Edinburgh was formally incorporated as a Craft Guild of Edinburgh, and granted a royal charter in 1506 by King James IV of Scotland...
, the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Chirurgie, the Palermo Surgical Society, and the Berliner Medicinische Gesellschaft, and associate fellow of the
American Academy of Arts and SciencesThe American Academy of Arts and Sciences is an independent policy research center that conducts multidisciplinary studies of complex and emerging problems. The Academy’s elected members are leaders in the academic disciplines, the arts, business, and public affairs.James Bowdoin, John Adams, and...
.
New International EncyclopediaThe New International Encyclopedia was an English-language encyclopedia first published in the early 1900s. It was printed in two editions. The first edition was published from 1902 to 1914 by Dodd, Mead and Company. The second edition was copyrighted in 1917 and afterwards by Dodd, Mead and...
procedures and signs
- Keen's operation—omphalectomy.
- Keen's sign—increased diameter of the leg at the malleoli in Pott's fracture of the fibula.
Dorland's Medical Dictionary (1938 edition)
Works
He published:
- Clinical Charts of the Human Body (1870)
- Early History of Practical Anatomy (1875)
- Surgical Complications and Sequels of Typhoid Fever (1898)
- Addresses and Other Papers (1905)
- Animal Experimentation and Medical Progress (1914)
- an edition of Heath's Practical Anatomy (1870)
- the New American from the Eleventh English Edition of Gray's Anatomy
Henry Gray's Anatomy of the Human Body, commonly shortened to Gray's Anatomy, is an English-language human anatomy textbook widely regarded as a classic work on the subject....
(Sept 1887)
- the New American from the Thirteenth English Edition of Gray's Anatomy (Sept 1893)
- the American Text-Book of Surgery (1899, 1903)
- Keen's System of Surgery (1905-13)
Co-authored:
External links