Joseph Pancoast

Joseph Pancoast (November 23, 1805 – March 6, 1882) was an American surgeon. His name is eponymic to the practice of surgery, in general, and cosmetic surgery, in particular.

Joseph Pancoast
Born	November 23, 1805 Springfield Township, Burlington County, New Jersey, United States
Died	March 6, 1882 (aged 76) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Occupation	Surgeon Professor
Spouse(s)	Rebecca Abbott
Children	William Henry Pancoast
Parent(s)	John Pancoast Ann Abbott

Pancoast was responsible for many seminal advancements in surgery that he described, and were depicted graphically, in numerous scholarly articles and books. His greatest work, A Treatise on Operative Surgery, was published in 1844. He was also famous for his lectures and clinics in anatomy and surgery.

Pancoast was born of Quaker parentage at Springfield Township, Burlington County, New Jersey, the son of John Pancoast (1771 – 1841) and Ann Abbott,[1] his wife. Joseph Pancoast married Rebecca Abbott.

In 1828, Pancoast was awarded a degree in medicine by the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. From 1839 to 1841, he was Chairman of the Department of Surgery at Jefferson Medical College. From 1841 until his resignation in 1874, Pancoast was Chairman of the Department of Anatomy at the same institution. He was succeeded by his son, William Henry Pancoast, who was also a renowned surgeon.

References

1. Swarthmore College; Swarthmore, Pennsylvania; Intentions of Marriage and Certificates of Removal, 1685-1756; Collection: Quaker Meeting Records; Call Number: MR-PH-109

• Morton, Thomas G., and F. Woodbury (1895). The history of the Pennsylvania Hospital, 1751-1895. Philadelphia: Times Printing House, p. 521.
• Joseph Pancoast Collection at Thomas Jefferson University

Bibliography (partial)

• Pancoast, Joseph (1827). The erectile tissue. Thesis—University of Pennsylvania, 1828.
• Lobstein, Jean Frédéric. A treatise on the structure, functions and diseases of the human sympathetic nerve. Philadelphia : J. G. Auner, 1831. Translation by Joseph Pancoast.
• Pancoast, Joseph (1835). An introductory lecture delivered at the commencement of the winter course of anatomy: for 1834-5. Philadelphia: W.P. Gibbons.
• Pancoast, Joseph (1844). A treatise on operative surgery: comprising a description of the various processes of the art, including all the new operations; exhibiting the state of surgical science in its present advanced condition; with eighty plates, containing four hundred and eighty-six separate illustrations. Philadelphia: Carey and Hart.