Stanhope Bayne-Jones Papers

Stanhope Bayne-Jones, M.D. (November 6, 1888 - February 20, 1970) was a physician, bacteriologist, medical historian, and a United States Army medical officer. He is often considered a pivotal figure in the modernization of American medicine. Bayne-Jones was born in New Orleans, La. His father, Joseph Jones, was also a physician and served in the Confederate States medical corps during the Civil War and taught at Tulane University; an uncle was the famed William Crawford Gorgas.

Bayne-Jones graduated from Yale University in 1910 and received his M.D. from Johns Hopkins University Medical School in 1914; during subsequent years he became well-known not only as a physician and soldier, but also as an educator and researcher. Bayne-Jones received a commission of First Lieutenant in the U.S. Army in 1915 and served both the British and American Expeditionary Forces in France and Italy during World War I on the front lines of significant battles such as Chatieu Thierry and the Meuse Argonne offensive. Bayne-Jones distinguished military career includes a Silver Star with two oak leaf clusters, World War I Victory Medal with four Battle Clasps, Army of Occupation of Germany Medal, American Campaign Medal, World War II Victory Medal, Honorary Commander of the Order of the British Empire (United Kingdom), Military Cross (United Kingdom), French Croix de Guerre 1914-1918 with Gilt star.

After the war Bayne-Jones became professor of bacteriology at the new University of Rochester School of Medicine where his department served both the university and City of Rochester, preparing him for a future in public health and administration. He then returned to Yale University in 1924 as Professor of immunology and bacteriology, advancing to become Dean of the School of Medicine from 1935 to 1940. He resigned as Dean after attempting to establish an internally controversial Institute of Nutrition. With the onset of World War II he returned to public service. In 1941 he was named director, Commission on Epidemiological Survey, Board for the Investigation and Control of Influenza and other Epidemic Diseases in the Army, Office of the Surgeon General. He also served on the Advisory Committee on Biological Warfare for the Secretary of War and with the National Research Council. In 1942 he returned to active military duty in the Army's Preventive Medicine Service, Office of the Surgeon General. He also served as assistant chief and deputy chief of the Preventive Medical Service, administrator of the Army Epidemiological Board, and director of the U.S. Typhus Commission. He retired in 1946 as Brigadier General, U.S. Army Reserve Medical Corps.

Bayne-Jones then became president of the Joint Administrative Board of the New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center from 1947-1953. In retirement he served as an adviser to the USPHS Surgeon General surveying the research role of the National Institutes of Health and he was a member of the Surgeon General's Advisory Committee on Smoking and Health which issued the landmark 1964 report that linked smoking to cancer. His last major accompishment was chairman of the editorial board for the writing of a multi-volume medical history of World War II Preventive Medicine in World War II. He himself also published the short History of Preventive Medicine in the U.S. Army from Colonial Times.

Bayne-Jones was the recipient of many accolades and awards such as the Army Outstanding Civilian Service Medal and Exceptional Civilian Service Decoration; honorary degrees from Tulane, Johns-Hopkins, Emory, and Hahnemann universities; Fellow of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, the New York Academy of Medicine, and Society of Medical Authors.