McDowell, Ephraim (1771–1830)

US surgeon. Often regarded as the ‘father of abdominal surgery’, he never got a medical degree. At his office, in 1809, he successfully removed a twenty-pound tumorous ovary without incurring peritoneal infection. His most famous patient was James K Polk, in whose pre-presidential abdomen he removed bladder stones and stitched up a hernia.

McDowell was born in Rockbridge County, Virginia. He attended medical lectures at the University of Edinburgh (1793–94) before returning to Danville, Kentucky, in 1795, where he became known as ‘the best surgeon west of Philadelphia’. He donated the land for the Danville Episcopal Church, gave free medical service to those who could not pay, and was a founder and trustee of Centre College in Danville, Kentucky.