Our Wednesday 21 May 08 presentation was by me, Dr. Ken Embry. I also am the blog editor so I guess I can brag on my presentation as much as I want. Actually I want to thank this month's Program Chair, Margaret Curtis for inviting me to speak. I wanted to say something about medical history in Kentucky and in my research came across the name of a Bowling Green physician Dr. Joseph Nathaniel McCormack who lived from 1847 until 1922. He came to prominence following his courageous service to Yellow Fever patients here in Bowling Green during the epidemic of 1878. Dr. Lucas Blackburn who became Kentucky's Governor following his heroic service during this and previous Yellow Fever epidemics ends up appointing Dr. McCormack to the State Board of Health in December of 1878. Dr. McCormack becomes Commissioner of Health in 1883 and holds that post until he retires in 1912. His son Arthur succeeds his father and Dr. Joseph wins a term as a Democrat member of Kentucky's House of Representatives from Bowling Green. John Ellis in his book Medicine in Kentucky says "No two men have had an impact on the American medical profession and its institutions comparable to that of two Kentuckians, one a physician [Dr. J.N. McCormack] and the other a schoolteacher [Abraham Flexner]." I gave only a brief summary of the ways in which Dr. McCormack was so influential in changing the practice of medicine in Kentucky and the nation for the better. We owe him so much yet after all these years his name is virtually forgotten and I lamented that there is no memorial to him of any kind in this his home town. The audience was very attentive and many were asking what should be done to correct this oversight.
