Louisville Medicine Volume 67, Issue 4 | Page 38

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. 36 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.