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Video by Francis Trachta

Army Medicine History - Dr. Rufus Cole

Army Medicine History

Dec. 21, 2022 | 1:32

Dr. Rufus I. Cole received his MD from Johns Hopkins in 1899 and continued his studies at the Koch Institute in Berlin. In 1909, he was appointed the first director of the Hospital of the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research in New York City. Dr. Cole conducted research and developed a serum for the treatment and prevention of Lobar Pneumonia.

In 1917, as the United States entered WWI, Dr. Cole became a Contract Surgeon. He was a member of the medical team that Surgeon General Gorgas ordered to inject Army camps to improve the health of the wave of new recruits.

In 1917 pneumonia accounted for 65% of non-combat deaths. In February of 1918, Dr. Cole was assigned to investigate the high mortality from pneumonia at the Fort Sam Houston Hospital. Dr. Cole examined patients and discovered that the deadly pneumonia was caused by infection in patients who had just recovered from common measles (Rubella). He further discovered that the S. hemolyticus infection was being spread within the hospital by the close quarters of patients within wards.

After WWI, Dr. Cole returned to the Rockefeller Institute and continued his research. He retired in 1937 and led an active life until his death in 1968 of pneumonia.

Filmed at the AMEDD Museum, JBSA, Fort Sam Houston, Texas, 21DEC2022. Voice Over by Karen Luisi, Voice Actor. (U.S. Army video by Francis S. Trachta/Released)