Medicine in NC During and Around the Nineteenth Century
“NC Medical College”
Dr. Annie Lowrie Alexander was born in 1864, graduated college in 1884 and got her medical license in 1885. From then on, she practiced medicine. During this time North Carolina was going through some changes in medicine. The first medical school, Edenborough Medical College in Robeson County, chartered by the North Carolina General Assembly, was founded in 1867 by Dr. Hector McLean (Roberson, 2010). The school was closed when Dr. McLean died in 1877. “In 1879, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill sponsored the School of Medicine, a two-year curriculum with Dr. Thomas W. Harris as Dean” (Roberson, 2010). This school closed when Dr. Harris resigned because he was not receiving any salary. It reopened again with Dr. Whitehead as dean and in 1902 Dr. Royster took over as dean. “At which time Drs. Whitehead and Royster formed the University Medical Department at Raleigh, to provide two years of clinical instruction at the hospitals in Raleigh—Rex, St. Agnes, and Dorothea Dix Hospitals and the Raleigh Dispensary” (Roberson, 2010). Around the same time in 1887, North Carolina Medical College began at Davidson College. “In 1902, the school added a year of clinical work at Presbyterian and Good Samaritan hospitals in Charlotte” (Roberson, 2010). Then was renamed the North Carolina Medical School. North Carolina had four medical schools at the beginning of the 20th century (Roberson, 2010). Although Dr. Alexander did not attend school in North Carolina, it is important to know what types of changes were happening in North Carolina. Dr. Alexander needed to know about the changes that occurred in NC because she came back to practice medicine in NC. In order to practice medicine in NC, Dr. Alexander had to be up to date on what is occurring in the medical field in North Carolina.