John Morgan

John Morgan (June 10, 1735 – October 15, 1789), "founder of Public Medical Instruction in America," was co-founder of the Medical College at the University of Pennsylvania, the first medical school in Colonial America. He served as the second chief physician and director general of the Continental Army, an early name for the Surgeon General of the United States Army. He was an early member of the American Philosophical Society, elected in 1766, where he served as curator from 1769 to 1770. Early life and education The first son of Evan Morgan, an immigrant from Wales, and Joanna Biles, Morgan was born in Philadelphia in the Province of Pennsylvania in pre-Revolution British America. After a classical education at West Nottingham Academy in Colora, Maryland, he graduated from the College of Philadelphia, now the University of Pennsylvania, in 1757. He fought for the British during the Seven Years' War, and was commissioned as a lieutenant where he served as a surgeon on the western frontier. After that, he studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh in Edinburgh, Scotland, where he graduated in 1763. He subsequently explored Europe, studying medical practice in Paris and visiting Italy. During this time, he was elected to the Royal Academy of Surgery at Paris in 1764 and the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh and of London in 1765. Career