Portrait of William Crawford Gorgas, MD (1854-1920), with caption: “William Gorgas 1854-1920. Controlled malaria and yellow fever at the site of the building of the Panama Canal.”
Dr. Gorgas received his MD from Bellevue Hospital Medical College in 1879. He was appointed to the US Army Medical Corps from 1880 to 1918, reaching the rank of Major General. Dr. Gorgas served as Chief Sanitary Officer in Havana, where, with Dr. Robert Ernest Noble, he worked to eradicate yellow fever and malaria. In 1904, Dr. Gorgas began his role as chief sanitary officer on the Panama Canal construction project.