Henry Willis Baxley (1803 – 1876) was an American physician who helped to found the

Baltimore College of Dental Surgery The University of Maryland School of Dentistry (abbreviated UMSOD), is the dental school of the University System of Maryland. It was founded as an independent institution, the Baltimore College of Dental Surgery, in 1840 and was the birthplace o ...

in 1839. This college has been variously described as the first dental college in

the United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, in the world, and in

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Biography

Baxley was born in

Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

, in June 1803. There, he was educated at St. Mary's College before beginning at

University of Maryland School of Medicine The University of Maryland School of Medicine (abbreviated UMSOM), located in Baltimore City, Maryland, U.S., is the medical school of the University of Maryland, Baltimore and is affiliated with the University of Maryland Medical Center and ...

, from which he received his M. D. in 1824. In 1826, he began working as an

attending physician In the United States and Canada, an attending physician (also known as a staff physician or supervising physician) is a physician (usually an M.D., or D.O. in the United States) who has completed residency and practices medicine in a clinic ...

at the Baltimore General Dispensary, where he continued to work until 1829. From 1830 to 1831, he was the attending physician at the Maryland Penitentiary. He was named a demonstrator of

anatomy Anatomy () is the branch of morphology concerned with the study of the internal structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old scien ...

at the University of Maryland in 1834, and replaced Eli Geddings as professor of anatomy and

physiology Physiology (; ) is the science, scientific study of function (biology), functions and mechanism (biology), mechanisms in a life, living system. As a branches of science, subdiscipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ syst ...

at this institution in 1837. In 1839, Baxley worked with

Chapin A. Harris Chapin Aaron Harris Master of Arts, A.M., MD, D.D.S. (May 6, 1806, in Pompey, New York – September 29, 1860, in Baltimore, Maryland) was an American physician and dentist and dentistry school founder. Education At the age of 17 Harris studied m ...

Horace H. Hayden Horace Henry Hayden D.D.S. (October 13, 1769 – January 25, 1844) was the first licensed American dentist and dentistry school founder. Education Hayden was born in Windsor, Connecticut. After working as a cabin boy, architect and schoolteac ...

, and Thomas E. Bond to found the Baltimore College of Dental Surgery. For a year afterward, he taught anatomy and physiology there. He served as professor of surgery at

Washington University of Baltimore Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A m ...

from 1842 to 1847, and he worked as a physician at the Baltimore Almshouse from 1849 to 1850. In 1850, he moved to

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

, where he became chair of anatomy at the

Medical College of Ohio The University of Toledo College of Medicine and Life Sciences is a medical school affiliated with the University of Toledo, a public university located in Toledo, Ohio, United States. The College is located on the University of Toledo's Health ...

. He became chair of surgery there in 1852, and served as the government's inspector of hospitals in 1865. He lived in Europe from 1866 until returning to Baltimore in 1875. Baxley died in Baltimore on March 13, 1876, aged 72. In his will, he bequeathed $23,836.52 to the trustees of

Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...

for an endowed professorship. In 1901, Johns Hopkins used this money to establish the Baxley Professorship of Pathology, the first endowed chair in the

Johns Hopkins School of Medicine The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (JHUSOM) is the medical school of Johns Hopkins University, a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Established in 1893 following the construction of the Johns Hopkins Hospital, th ...

. It was first held by

William Henry Welch William is a masculine given name of Germanic origin. It became popular in England after the Norman conquest in 1066,All Things William"Meaning & Origin of the Name"/ref> and remained so throughout the Middle Ages and into the modern era. It is ...

References

Physicians from Baltimore 1803 births 1876 deaths 19th-century American physicians St. Mary's Seminary and University alumni University of Maryland School of Medicine alumni American anatomists American dentistry academics University of Maryland, Baltimore faculty University of Cincinnati faculty 19th-century American dentists {{US-physician-stub