Hugh S. Cumming

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Hugh S. Cumming
Thomas Parran Jr.
Personal details
Born
Hugh Smith Cumming

(1869-08-17)August 17, 1869
Hampton, Virginia, U.S.
DiedDecember 20, 1948(1948-12-20) (aged 79)
Washington, D.C., U.S.
Alma materBaltimore City College
University of Virginia
Military service
Allegiance United States
Branch/servicePublic Health Service
Years of service1894–1936
Rank Rear Admiral

Hugh Smith Cumming (August 17, 1869 – December 20, 1948) was an U.S. physician and soldier. He served as the fifth Surgeon General of the United States from 1920 to 1936.

A collection of his papers are held at the National Library of Medicine.[1]

Biography

Early life

Cumming was born in

Public Health Service and Marine Hospital Service
in 1902 and then the Public Health Service in 1912.

Career

Cumming was assigned to a variety of posts during his early career in the Service, especially

Washington, DC. There he was placed in charge of an investigation of the pollution of tidal waters of Maryland and Virginia. One of his concerns was the shellfish industry, and the potential threat to human health from consuming oysters grown in waters polluted with sewage
.

During World War I, Cumming was assigned to the United States Navy as a sanitary advisor. He was later ordered to Europe to study the sanitary conditions of the ports from which troops would embark and to confer with military authorities to take the necessary action to prevent the introduction of disease into the United States by returning troops. He was also a member of the Typhus Fever Commission to Poland.

Surgeon General

On 3 March 1920, Cumming was appointed

Veterans' Bureau, and the responsibility for the health care of veterans was transferred from the PHS to the new Bureau. Another event of Cumming's early tenure was the creation of a national leprosy hospital in Carville, Louisiana in 1921 when the PHS took control of what had been the Louisiana Leper Home
. The facility at Carville became a major center for leprosy treatment and research.

Soon after his appointment, Cumming inaugurated a plan for the medical inspection of

immigrants abroad in the principal countries of origin.[2]
This plan reduced the number of immigrants who were turned back for medical reasons after making the trip to the United States. In the 1920s, the PHS also completed the development of a national maritime quarantine system by acquiring the last two quarantine stations operated by States.

The

Public Health Service Commissioned Corps
was also authorized to admit dentists, pharmacists, and sanitary engineers, the first expansion of the Regular Corps beyond physicians.

In 1930, the PHS was given the responsibility of providing medical and psychiatric care to Federal prisoners. Under the Social Security Act of 1935, the PHS was authorized to provide grants-in-aid to the States for the development of public health work.

Cumming served as President of the Association of Military Surgeons of the United States in 1924 and as President of the

"The Tuskegee study of untreated syphilis in the negro male"—begun in 1932, continued under Cumming's successors, ended in 1972.[3][4] Cumming was also on the Advisory Board of the Eugenics Committee of the USA (ECUSA).[5]

In 1935 Cumming was awarded the

International Office of Public Hygiene

While he was Surgeon General, Cumming attended several meetings of the International Office of Public Health (OIHP) in Paris, the predecessor of the World Health Organization.

After ending his term as Surgeon-General, Cumming served for a period as Chairman of the Permanent Committee of the OIHP.[7]

Personal life

Hugh Cumming retired as Surgeon General and from active duty in the Public Health Service on 31 January 1936 as a rear admiral. He continued to serve as Director of the

Washington, DC
, on 20 December 1948.

His son,

United States Ambassador to Indonesia
.

References

  1. ^ "Hugh S. Cumming Papers 1945-1977". National Library of Medicine.
  2. ^ The News-Herald (Franklin, Pennsylvania); Saturday, February 12, 1921; Page 1
  3. S2CID 11993490
    .
  4. .
  5. ^ Jonathan Peter Spiro, Defending the Master Race: Conservation, Eugenics, and the Legacy of Madison Grant. Lebanon, NH: University Press of New England, 2009. page 394.
  6. ^ "Public Welfare Award". National Academy of Sciences. Archived from the original on 4 June 2011. Retrieved 14 February 2011.
  7. ^ Howard-Jones, Norman (1978). International Public Health between the Two World Wars: The Organizational Problems. Geneva: World Health Organization.