Isidor Schwaner Ravdin was a second-generation American and a fourth-generation physician who combined research with surgery and completely changed the fields of both. During his 40+ years at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Ravdin rose to become Chief of Surgery and Director of Research.
During World War II, he ran what Vinegar Joe Stillwell called “the best g**d*** hospital in the Army” during the China Burma India campaign. When President Eisenhower was struck with a bowel obstruction in 1956, Ravdin was summoned to Washington to perform the surgery. He even appeared as a heroic character in a popular cartoon strip of his time.
If you have visited the HUP campus, you have almost certainly walked through the Ravdin pavilion. It is his story I will tell you in this episode of Biographical Bytes from Bala #026 – The Surgeon Is a General.
WALKING TOUR: Laurel Hill West from Pencoyd to Barmouth
ABC #044: Some James Garfield Connections at Laurel Hill
BBB #013: Every Brilliant Thing: Ice Cream and Laurel Hill
ABC #043: Tick Tock: Clocks, Watches, and Laurel Hill, Part 1
BBB #012: Turbaned Warrior for Justice - C. DeLores Tucker
ABC #042: Mint Condition: Some Laurel Hill Coinage Connections
BBB #011: The Red Rose Girls and Henrietta Cozens
ABC #041: Three More Drinker Siblings to Know - Harry, Cecil, and Kitty
BBB #010: Lincoln’s Railroad Man - Herman Haupt
ABC #040: Friends of Thomas Jefferson, Part 1 - I’m Just a Bill
BBB #009: A Forgotten Pioneer in Gender Studies - Helen Bradford Thompson Woolley
WALKING TOUR: West Laurel Hill from Barmouth to Pencoyd
ABC #039: In Heaven There Is No Beer- Brewers of Laurel Hill
BBB #008: Every Writer’s Writer, Every Human’s Human - Loren Eiseley
ABC #038: Through the Looking Glass: Lewis Carroll Connections
BBB #007: Altering History - Francis, Clara, and Susanna Dercum
ABC #037: Boies Will Be Boys - Senator Penrose and His Brothers
BBB #006: A Life for Peace - Hannah Clothier Hull
ABC #036: The Three Remarkable Wister Sisters
BBB #005: Philadelphia’s First Black ”Power Couple” - Raymond Pace & Sadie T.M. Alexander
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Irish Songs with Ken Murray
History Obscura
Historycal: Words that Shaped the World
The Rest Is History
Rachel Maddow Presents: Ultra