Walter Bauer, Marian Wilkins Ropes, and the Massachusetts General Hospital

Abstract

Walter Bauer was instrumental in the development of rheumatology as a medical subspecialty, promoting careful clinical observation and description and bringing basic scientists and clinicians together to study the "anatomy, chemical composition, and metabolism of connective tissue" in the laboratory. Marian Wilkins Ropes was a pioneering woman in medicine: the first female medical resident at the Massachusetts General Hospital, the first woman appointed as an assistant professor of clinical medicine at Harvard Medical School, the first woman elected to membership in the American Society of Clinical Investigation, and the first woman elected president of the American Rheumatism Association.

Keywords: History; Marian Wilkins Ropes; Massachusetts General Hospital; Rheumatoid arthritis; Rheumatology; Synovial fluid; Systemic lupus erythematosus; Walter Bauer.