Who’s Who in Orthopedics Surgery and Traumatology, Honorary Member
of the Royal Society of Medicine in England, Honorary Member of the British Orthopedic Association, and Honorary Member of the Aus- tralian Orthopedic Association. As a member of the American Committee on Rheumatism, he helped to organize the American Rheumatism Association (president, 1944). He was the first Chairman of the Advisory Board of Orthopedic Surgeons to the Trustees of the Shriners’ Hospi- tal for Crippled Children. He was a member and later Chairman of the Advisory Committee for Services for Crippled Children of the Children’s Bureau. He was a member of the Advisory Board of the Alfred I. duPont Institute and helped in planning its hospital. In 1943, he was made an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Sur- geons, the Fellowship being conferred on him by Major General Sir William Heneage Ogilvie at the British Embassy in Washington. He was awarded the degree of Doctor of Science, honoris causa, by Amherst College in 1935.
His former pupils and associates combined on the occasion of his 70th birthday to publish in the Archives of Surgery a special number dedicated to him; in the following year another group of pupils and associates united to arrange for the painting of his portrait by Mr. Samuel Hopkinson. This excellent work now hangs in the Massachusetts General Hospital.
Robert Bayley Osgood died on October 2, 1956, in Boston, at the age of 83. Dr. Osgood was married on April 29, 1902, to Margaret Louisa, daughter of Nathaniel Gates Chapin of Brookline, Massachusetts, who survived him. They had a daughter by adoption, Ellen. Bob and Margaret Osgood were exponents of the art of gracious living, of cordial hospitality, and of warm friendship.
Adolph Wilhelm OTTO
1786–1845
Adolph Wilhelm Otto was born in Greifswald, Germany, where his father, a physician, was a professor of natural history and a well-known ornithologist. He was educated in Frankfurt am Oder and Greifswald, where he graduated in 1808. Five years of postgraduate study were con- cluded with an extensive trip through medical
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clinics in Germany, the Netherlands, and France.
Otto was made Professor of Anatomy and Director of the Anatomical Museum in Breslau in 1813. He published extensively in the area of pathologic anatomy, particularly teratology. With his textbook Monstrum humanum Extremitatibus incurvatus. Monstrorum Sexcentorum descriptio anatomica in Vratislaviae Museum, published by Anatomico-Pathologieum Breslau in 1841, Otto has been credited with the first clinical descrip- tion of an infant with arthrogryposis multiplex congenital. He died in 1845 at the age of 59.
Ralph Edward OUTERBRIDGE
1920–1990
Ralph Edward Outerbridge was born September 19, 1920 in Kobe, Japan, of Canadian missionary parents. He received his early education at the Canadian Academy in Kobe, then came to Canada for his medical training. He graduated from the University of Toronto in 1936.
After interning at St. Michael’s Hospital in Montreal, he left for China with his new bride, Margaret Kergin, in June 1938 to join the staff of the Canadian West China Mission. He acted as superintendent of mission hospitals in Junghsien and later in Tzeliutsing, Szechwan Province (Sichuan).
In 1946, Outerbridge returned to the University
of Toronto for specialized training. After success-
fully completing his fellowship in orthopedic
Who’s Who in Orthopedics
surgery, he and his family returned to Chengtu in 1948, where he joined the staff of the West China Union University Medical College, where his specialty was pediatric surgery. Acutely aware of the impending change about to engulf China, he worked tirelessly to train young Chinese medical students to take over his work if he should have to leave suddenly. He was able to finish his train- ing program days before he returned to Canada in early 1951.
In 1951, Outerbridge established a practice in New Westminster, where he joined the staff of the Royal Columbian Hospital. He played a key role in the establishment of their Department of Ortho- pedics. In addition to his own rapidly growing practice, he also was responsible for most of the trauma work in the Fraser Valley during the 1950s and early 1960s.
As a teacher, Outerbridge enjoyed the personal contact with his students. Many friendships were made that persisted through subsequent years. His astute observational skills led him to pursue areas of research with great enthusiasm. His work on chondromalacia patella led to the awarding of a Master of Science degree in the mid 1970s.
Ralph Outerbridge retired from orthopedics completely in 1986 and lived a full life until he died on August 8, 1990.
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