February 2016 Leadership Reflection:
The Ethical Leadership of
Dr. Hippocrates
Last year, the University
of Illinois administration announced the formation of a new College of Medicine
on the Urbana campus – the Carle Illinois College of Medicine (https://medicine.illinois.edu),
which is scheduled to open its doors to a new generation of innovative medical
students in fall 2018. Combining medicine with engineering, this new College
promises to bring technological innovations and breakthrough discoveries to the
biomedical sciences that will greatly benefit physicians and their patients. As
the University begins to search for the leaders who will drive this enterprise
forward, I’d like to share with you the story of an ancient physician who
changed the world for the better through his ethical leadership in the
biomedical sciences: Dr. Hippocrates!
Dr. Hippocrates: The Father
of Western Medicine
By Rob Chappell
Reprinted from Cursus
Honorum VI: 6 (January 2006)
In this painting by the Dutch artist Pieter Lastman
(1583–1633), Dr. Hippocrates (left) visits his contemporary (right), the Greek
philosopher-scientist Democritus (ca. 460-370 BCE). Image Credit: Public Domain
via Wikimedia Commons.
Hippocrates (ca. 460-370
BCE) is widely regarded as the “Father of Western Medicine” by historians of
the medical sciences. He was apprenticed to a physician during his youth and
spent most of his life on the Greek island of Kos. There stood the famous
temple of Asclepius (the divine patron of medicine and healing in the Olympian
pantheon), which attracted throngs of people seeking medical help for various
illnesses and injuries. Having observed firsthand the medical practices of the
temple’s physician-priests, Hippocrates resolved to banish superstition and
magic from medicine. In his teaching and practice, he emphasized the role of
observation (carefully examining patients) and asking patients detailed
questions about their present condition and medical history. His treatments
emphasized the need for proper nutrition and exercise and the use of remedies
that had a proven record of success. Due to the effectiveness of his
scientifically based treatment methods, Hippocrates’ fame spread rapidly across
the Mediterranean world, drawing both patients and would-be apprentices to his
school.
A collection of about
sixty treatises on medicine and related subjects, based on Hippocrates’
observations and experiments, was compiled by his pupils and successors over
several generations. These books transmitted Hippocrates’ teachings to future
generations and ensured that he would be revered for millennia to come as a
brilliant scientist and dedicated physician. The most famous of the Hippocratic
treatises is the Hippocratic Oath, which most physicians still
take (in one form or another) upon graduation from medical school. The Oath
led to the formulation of the cardinal precept of the medical profession,
“Primum non nocere” (Latin: “First, do no harm”), and it required physicians to
guarantee their patients’ confidentiality. Moreover, the Oath
sought to stamp out quackery by describing the apprenticeship that medical
students must undergo to be qualified to practice medicine professionally and
to train their own apprentices in turn.
Hippocrates is a
sterling example of how one scientist can change the world for the better
through research, teaching, and writing. His entire lifetime was spent in
the service of his fellow human beings, and his wisdom and insight still
inspire young people to take up the challenge of improving the human condition
through the scientific method that he pioneered. Please visit the following web
links to learn more about this outstanding humanitarian and his enduring
legacy.
·
http://classics.mit.edu/Browse/browse-Hippocrates.html è The MIT
Internet Classics Archive maintains a public-domain collection of the
Hippocratic treatises in English translation. Readers have the opportunity to
discuss the texts with others and post their comments on the website.
·
http://exhibits.hsl.virginia.edu/antiqua è Antiqua
Medicina (Ancient Medicine) is a special archival collection maintained
by the University of Virginia’s Health Sciences Library. Its historical
overview of medicine in ancient Greece and Rome includes articles on
Hippocrates and his successors.
·
http://www.iep.utm.edu/hippocra è The Internet
Encyclopedia of Philosophy provides this biography of Hippocrates,
along with a summary of his medical precepts and influence on ancient and
medieval physicians.
·
http://www.indiana.edu/~ancmed/oath.htm è Indiana
University provides this English translation of the Hippocratic Oath, which
was composed by Hippocrates and/or his disciples around 400 BCE.
