William Gorgas, American Army Physician
Gorgas, wearing cap and gown, recipient of an honorary degree at Columbia University's June 4, 1913 commencement. William Crawford Gorgas (October 3, 1854 - July 3, 1920) was a United States Army physician. In 1898 after the end of the Spanish-American War Gorgas was appointed Chief Sanitary Officer in Havana, working to eradicate yellow fever and malaria. He was made Surgeon General of the Army in 1914, in which position he was able to capitalize on the momentous work of another Army doctor, Major Walter Reed. He won international fame battling the illness, then the scourge of tropical and sub-tropical climates, first in Florida, later in Havana, Cuba and finally at the Panama Canal. In 1914 Gorgas and George Washington Goethals were awarded the inaugural Public Welfare Medal from the National Academy of Sciences. He received an honorary knighthood (KCMG) from King George V at the Queen Alexandra Military Hospital in the United Kingdom shortly before he died in 1920 at the age of 65
