John Thompson Hodgen was born in Kentucky in 1826. He attended Bethany College in West Virginia. In March, 1848, he graduated from the Medical Department of the University of Missouri, which at the time, was known as McDowell's College. Her served at the St. Louis City Hospital as a house officer during 1848 and 1849 and then began work as a demonstrator in anatomy in the Missouri Medical College in St. Louis. He became Professor of Anatomy in 1854 and filled this chair until 1859 after which he simultaneously filled the Chairs of Anatomy and Physiology until 1862. He was consulting surgeon to the St. Louis City Hospital from 1862 to 1882 and, from 1864 until his death in 1882, taught clinical surgery at St. Louis City Hospital. He was made Dean of the St. Louis Medical College in 1865, and served simultaneously as Professor of Anatomy and of Physiology.
He was honored highly by his local profession as well as by the Missouri State Medical Society and the American Medical Association. He served each of these organizations as President. It is said that he was a potent factor in shaping the course of St. Louis Medical College and established an advanced standard of work which no other institution in St. Louis dared to attempt until years later, and then only under pressure of enforced laws.
His warm, generous nature, his keen powers of observation, and his mechanical genius formed the basis for a highly illustrious career as a teacher and as a surgeon.
In 1921, St. Louis Surgical Society, together with the Medical Fund Society of the St. Louis Medical College, created a fund of $3000 to perpetuate the memory of Doctor Hodgen in the form of an annual lecture. Outstanding contributors to the science and the art of surgery were to be invited to present their works before the entire medical profession of St. Louis and to all medical students.
2019 Justin B. Dimick, MD, MPH
"A Video is Worth a Thousand Operative Notes"
2018 John L. Cameron, MDWilliam Stewart Halsted: Our Surgical Heritage
2016 Dr. Sharon Weber"NSQIP"
2015 John A. Weigelt, DVM, MD, FACS"Maintenance of Certification for the General Surgeon"
2014 Murray Brennan
The Evolution of Multidisciplinary Cancer Carefrom Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.
2013 Thomas Fogarty, MD"What It Takes to Bring Our Good Ideas and Inventions to Clinical Use and Market"
2012 Julie Ann Freischlag, MD"Personal comparative effectiveness-Prevention of burnout"
2011 Frank Opelka, MD "The Road Ahead in Health Care Reform"
2010 Diana Farmer
"UCSF Department of Surgery and Global Health Program"
2009 Dr. Josef Fischer, M.D.
"The Imminent Disappearance of the General Surgeon"
2008 Phil Schauer, M.D.
"Metabolic Surgery: The Next Big Thing in Surgery"
2007 Richard D. Reznick, M.D.
"Iconoclastic or Crazy? Turning Training Upside Down"
2006 Desmond Birkett, M.D.
"Emerging Technologies in Laparoscopic and Endoluminal Surgery">
2005 Sherwin Nuland, M.D.
"The Impact of Theodor Billroth on Surgery at the Turn of the Century"
2004 Richard Anderson, M.D.
"Medical Malpractice and the Surgeon"
2003 James "Red" Duke, M.D.
"The Trauma Surgeon and the Media"
2002 Orlo H. Clark, M.D.
"Rationale for Changing Surgical Approach to Patients with Primary Hyperparathyroidism"
2001 Basil A. Pruitt, M.D.
"The New Millennium in Burn Care: Recent Advances and Current Challenges"
2000 Hiram C. PoIk, Jr, M.D.
Selective Surgical Management of the Melanoma Epidemic"
1999 Bernard Fisher, M.D.
"Reducing the Incidence of Breast Cancer in Women with High Risk"
1998 Douglas W. Wilmore, M.D.
"Growth Hormones, Glutamine and Muscle Preservation"
1997 Bernard M. Jaffe, M.D.
"Current Status of Small Bowel Transplantation"
1996 John L. Ochsner, M.D.
"The Inaugural Hodgen Lecturer"
1995 John L. Cameron, M.D.
"Current Mangement of Pancreatic Cancer"
1994 Paul A. Ebert, M.D. (Seventieth)
"Health Care Reform: Impact on the Surgeon"
1993 Samuel A. Wells Jr., M.D.
"Multiple Endocrine Neoplasias"
1992 John S. Najarian, M.D.
"Transplantation in Diabetic Patients"
1991 LaSalle D. Leffall, Jr., M.D.
"Changing Patterns of Surgical Oncology"
1990 David L. Nahrwold, M.D.
"Undergraduate Education and Surgery"
1989 Frank G. Moody, M.D.
"Gallstones: Another Surgical Dinosaur"
1988 Donald Trunkey, M.D.
"Space Medicine"
1987 Seymour I. Schwartz, M.D.
"The Management of Hepatic Tumors"
1986 David C. Sabiston, Jr., M.D.
"The Diagnosis and Management of Chronic Pulmonary Embolism"
1985 Vallee L. Willman, M.D.
"Surgical Education in St. Louis"
1984 Claude H. Organ, Jr., M.D. (Sixtieth)
"Familial Breast Cancer: Future Clinical Implications"
1983 Edwin W. Salzman, M.D.
"Thrombosis and the Surgeon"
1982 Arthur E. Baue, M.D.
"Trauma, Ischemia and Organ Failure"
1981 George D. Zuidema, M.D.
"Surgical Issues for the 80's"
1980 Harris B. Shumacker, Jr., M.D.
"Reflections on Sympathectomy"
1979 Alexander J. Walt, M.D.
"Pseudo-Cyst of Pancreas: Variations on the Theme"
1978 Elliott W. Strong, M.D.
"The Current Status of Treatment of Cancers of the Head and Neck"
1977 Professor Sir John Charnley
"The Development of Clean Air and Its Importance to Modem and Future Surgery"
1976 Lloyd M. Nyhus, M.D.
"The Current Status of Vagotomy"
1975 William Longmire, Jr., M.D.
"Surgery of the Liver and Hepatic Ducts"
1974 Tom Shires, M.D. (Fiftieth)
"Management of Difficult Abdominal Injuries"
1973 Eugene M. Bricker, M.D.
"The Development of Radical Surgery in the Treatment of Pelvic Cancer"
1972 Thomas Starzl M.D.
"A Decade of Transplantation"
1971 Frank Glenn, M.D.
"The Role of Obstruction and Infection in Biliary Tract Disease"
1970 C. Rollins Hanlon, M.D.
"The Role of Organized Medicine in Future Patient Care"
1969 Ben Eiseman, M.D.
"Liver Perfusion, Preservation and Replacement"
1968 Curtis P. Artz, M.D.
"Current Advances in the Management of Bums"
1967 George D. Crile, Jr., M.D.
"Rationale and Results of Simplified Treatment of Breast Cancer"
1966 Jonathan E. Rhoads.M.D.
"Intravenous Therapy 1662-1965"
1965 Nathan A. Womack, M.D.
"Vascular Alterations in Cirrhosis of the Liver"
1964 William A. Altemeier, M.D. (Fortieth)
"Recent Studies in the Nature and Control of Staphylococcal Enterocolitis Following Antibiotic Therapy"
1963 John H. Mulholland, M.D.
"Studies in Biliary-Pancreatic Disease"
1962 James D. Hardy, M.D.
"Why Cancer Patients Die. Systemic Effect of Non-endocrine Tumors"
1961 Oliver Cope, M.D.
"Hyperparathyroidism: The Experience in the Diagnosis and Treatment of 245 Cases"
1960 Mark M. Ravitch, M.D.
"Management of the Severe Forms of Chronic Ulcerative Colitis"
1959 Francis D. Moore, M.D.
"The Regulation of the Volume of Body Fluids"
1958 Robert M. Zollinger, M.D.
"The Growing Importance of the Pancreas: Pancreatitis and Ulcerogenic Tumors"
1957 Michael E. DeBakey, M.D.
"Recent Developments in the Surgical Approach to Disease of the Aorta"
1956 Emile Holman, M.D.
"The Surgery of Constrictive Pericarditis"
1955 Warren H. Cole, M.D.
"Surgical Aspects of Jaundice"
1954 Brian Blades, M.D. (Thirtieth)
"Current Status of Hypothermia in Surgery"
1953 Howard K. Gray, M.D.
"The Problem of Cancer of the Stomach with Special Reference to Recent Encouraging Aspects of the Survival Rates"
1952 Emil Novak, M.D.
"The Problem of Pelvic Endometriosis"
1951 Richard B. Caftell, M.D.
"Surgery of the Pancreas"
1950 Samuel C. Harvey, M.D.
"Reaction to Injury as Exemplified by the Wound � The Regenerative Phase"
1949 Winchell McK. Craig, M.D.
"The Surgery of Intraspinal Lesions"
1948 Alton Ochsner, M.D.
Postphlebitic Sequelae"
1947 Daniel C. Elkin, M.D.
"Arteriovenous Fistula, Effects on Circulation"
1946 Frank H. Lahey, M.D.
"Management of Lesions of the Stomach, Duodenum and Jejunum"
1943 -1945 No lectures - World War II
1942 Edwin P. Lehman, M.D.
"Heparin and Inflammation"
1941 Claude S. Beck, M.D. (Twentieth)
"Surgery of the Heart"
1940 Henry K. Beecher, M.D.
"Some Academic Problems of Anesthesia"
1939 Fred A. Coller, M.D.
"Studies on Altered Chemistry in Surgical Patients"
1938 Allen O. Whipple, M.D.
"Present Day Problems in the Therapy of Splenopathies"
1937 Edward D. Churchill, M.D.
"Surgery of the Parathyroids"
1936 Howard C. Naffziger, M.D.
"Malignant Exophthalmos. Its Pathology, Treatment and Late Results"
1935 Henry E. Sigeriet, Professor
"Surgery at the Time of Introduction of Antisepsis"
1934 Walter B. Cannon, M.D.
"The Significance of the Emotional Level"
1933 Frank C. Mann, M.D.
"Observations on the Experimentally Produced Peptic Ulcer"
1932 C. Jeff Miller, M.D.
"A Clinical Consideration of Hysterectomy with a Brief Note on Some Points of Technique"
1931 William Edward Gallie, M.D. (Tenth)
"Recent Advances in the Transplantation of the Fibrous Tissues"
1930 Dallas B. Phemister, M.D.
"The Etiology and Treatment of Some of the Circulatory Failures in Surgery"
1929 Barney Brooks, M.D.
`Surgical Application of Therapeutic Venous Obstruction'
1928 Dean Lewis, M.D.
"Reconstructive Surgery'
1927 Daniel Fiske Jones, M.D.
"Carcinoma of the Rectum"
1926 John H. Gibbon, M.D.
"Lucas - Champlonnier and Mobilization in the Treatment of Fractures"
1925 No Lecture
1924 J. M. T. Finney, M.D.
"Recent Advances in Stomach Surgery"
1923 Lewis S. McMurty, M.D.
"The Birth of Scientific Surgery"
1922 Samuel J. Mixter, M.D.
"Our Old Enemy Cancer"
1921 Rudolph Matas M.D.
"The Effects of Arterio-Verous Aneurysms upon the General Circulation and Their Relation to the Symptotnatology, Prognosis and Treatment of These Lesions"