CHICAGO: The American College of Surgeons (ACS) recently released a biography of its founder, Franklin H. Martin, MD, FACS, chronicling Dr. Martin’s little examined rural youth, the values he learned at an early age, and how his upbringing richly influenced his career as a surgeon. The book, Franklin H. Martin, MD, FACS: From rural boyhood to distinguished surgeon, was written by Gordon L. Telford, MD, FACS, who lives in the same area of southeastern Wisconsin where Dr. Martin was raised.
“This book provides insight into the impact of Dr. Franklin Martin’s early years in Wisconsin on his later accomplishments and hypothesizes that his rural upbringing helped him become a great leader. The book also describes 10 other very accomplished surgeons and two other accomplished individuals that benefitted from a rural-based farm upbringing,” said Dr. Telford.
Dr. Martin was raised in southeastern Wisconsin, where he spent time in Oconomowoc, Watertown, and Ixonia. During this time, he developed the character, self-confidence, and other characteristics that helped him become a statesman for surgery. During his early years, he worked on his grandfather’s farm and later as a farm laborer, brickmaker, janitor, schoolteacher, and millwright. He never lost his work ethic—something that stayed with him throughout his illustrious career as a successful physician, administrator, and leader.
“He, like his family members, worked to the point of exhaustion. Years later, as an administrator, no matter how stressful his workday was, he recalled that the days in the fields and brickyard were much more exhausting and stressful,” Dr. Telford writes in the book’s introduction. “Martin learned that hard work yielded results, and he never lost that drive.”
Dr. Martin graduated from Chicago Medical School in 1880, and later founded the journal Surgery, Gynecology, and Obstetrics (now the Journal of the American College of Surgeons) in 1905, the Clinical Congress of the Surgeons of North America in 1910, and the ACS in 1913, all of which are still thriving over a century later today. Additionally, Dr. Martin co-founded the Post-Graduate Medical School and Hospital in Chicago and developed the ACS Hospital Standardization Program—which, in 1952, led to the formation of what is today known as The Joint Commission. He also served on the Advisory Commission of the Council of National Defense in preparation for World War I.
Franklin H. Martin, MD, FACS: From rural boyhood to distinguished surgeon is published by the ACS and was designed by Tina Woelke, Senior Graphic Designer/Production Manager in the ACS Division of Integrated Communications.
The book is available for purchase or free PDF download for ACS members through the ACS website. It will also be available on Amazon.com and in select bookstores in Oconomowoc and Watertown, Wisconsin.
About Gordon L. Telford, MD, FACS
Dr. Telford graduated from the University of Chicago, Pritzker School of Medicine. He is emeritus professor of surgery, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, where he was chief of surgery, Zablocki Veterans Affairs Medical Center, and attending surgeon, Froedtert Memorial Lutheran Hospital and served as chief, division of minimally invasive/gastrointestinal surgery. He was chief surgical consultant for Veterans Affairs Hospitals in the Upper Midwest and chairman of the National Council of Chiefs of Surgery. He served as Chair, Subcommittee on International Guest Scholars, ACS International Relations Committee, and Chair, ACS Committee on the Operating Room Environment. From 1990 to 1993, he was a member of three Centers for Disease Control Advisory Committees on HIV infection. He was listed in Best Doctors in America from 1996 to 2017. His research on the control of small intestinal motility was funded by the National Institutes of Health and Veterans Affairs from 1980 to 1997. He has 118 book chapters and journal publications. In retirement, he has become an avid gardener and is also involved in prairie restoration, restoring Monarch butterflies and Eastern Bluebirds, family genealogy, and fishing.
