Lahey, Frank Howard

Lahey, Frank Howard

(1880–1953) surgeon; born in Haverhill, Mass. He taught at Harvard (1912–15) and Tufts (1913–24). In 1923 Harvard and Tufts established an unprecedented joint chair for him. A surgeon of international renown, he pioneered a team approach to complicated procedures in lessening trauma. The clinic he opened in 1923 is also famed for using the team approach to diagnosis. President of the American Medical Association (1941–42), he represented the "old guard" and in 1949 he opposed Truman's compulsory national health insurance plan.