Edsall, David Linn

Edsall, David Linn (1869–1945) physician, educator; born in Hamburg, N.J. He took his medical degree at the University of Pennsylvania and stayed on to teach there until 1910. He was ahead of his time in his concentration on causes of disease such as inadequate nutrition, metabolic failures, and occupational conditions. With the release of the Flexner Report in 1910, he moved into the vanguard of those wanting to reform medical education; after a frustrating year at Washington University School of Medicine (Mo.) (1910–11), he went to Harvard Medical School (1912–35), becoming its dean in 1918. In 1922 he also became dean of the Harvard School of Public Health.