DOCTORS' LOUNGE
The Solomon Clinic at Chestnut and Brook Streets.
munity connections. He was a principal manager for the estate of
wealthy Louisville distiller, Charles P. Moorman, and directed its use
in 1926 to establish the C. P. Moorman Home for Women, a refuge
for elderly women. Over time, he became a respected medical and
civic senior statesman (Fig. 4). This period left lasting impressions
on his young grand-nephews, Allan and Morris Weiss, who fondly
called him, “Uncle Doc.” Now, Allan is a respected attorney, and
Morris is a leading cardiologist and advocate for medical ethics
and humanitarian service. Leon Solomon died in 1959, leaving an
admirable life’s legacy of great professional and community service.
MEDICAL SOCIETY AND PUBLIC HEALTH LEADERSHIP
From the onset of his career, Solomon supported organized med-
icine, and his talents rapidly brought leadership. In the Jefferson
County Medical Society (now GLMS) and Kentucky State Medical
Association, he was a leading voice opposing the proprietary drug
industry and their dangerous nostrums. At that time, Louisville
physicians led the American Medical Association (AMA). They
recognized his substantial expertise and placed the young doctor
on the newly formed AMA Council of Materia Medica, Pharmacy
and Therapeutics. He became Secretary in 1897 and Chair in 1899.
His 1900 Chairman’s Report is a fine state-of-the-art summary of
vaccine, serum and antitoxin therapies, and a forceful attack on
attempted inroads of the proprietary drug industry. When J.N.
McCormack, MD, strengthened the Kentucky State Board of Health
into a powerful agency, he appointed Solomon as head of Venereal
Disease Control. With the onset of World War I, Solomon became
Director of the Bureau of Venereal Diseases of the US Public Health
Service, rising to the rank of major.
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LOUISVILLE MEDICINE
Dr. Leon Solomon in later years as a medical statesman.
LEGACY
Leon Solomon was a skilled practitioner, respected educator and
acclaimed leader in the seminal era of building scientific foundations
to medicine. He pioneered and refined the specialty of internal med-
icine. Although highly acclaimed, peers described him as “genial,
courteous, unassuming and popular” with a life of “inspiration to all
who aspire to the highest level of service in behalf of humanity.”
Dr. Tobin is a professor at the University of Louisville School of Medicine, Department
of Surgery, Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. He practices with UofL
Physicians-Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery.