Background
Charles Cassidy Bass was a medical doctor and researcher on tropical medicine with significant contributions to understanding malaria, hookworm, and other diseases. Later Bass studied the relationship between dental health and the general well-being. Bass articulated and promoted the "Bass Technique of Toothbrushing" and developed improved means of flossing teeth, for which some refer to Bass as "The Father of Preventive Dentistry".He subsequently became a university administrator, serving as dean of the Tulane University School of Medicine, from 1922 to 1940.Photographs of Bass are available for on-line viewing.
Career
In 1909 he became director of the laboratory of clinical medicine, professor of experimental medicine in 1912
Bass had commenced research on hookworm disease in 1903, which he continued at Johns Hopkins University and at the laboratory of Dr. Charles E. Simon in Baltimore, Md., in 1904. He also conducted researches at New Orleans, La., on the intestinal parasites of man. In 1911 Bass announed the first successful cultivation of malaria plasmodia in vitro. In 1912 he conducted further researches in the cultivation of malaria plasmodia at the United States Government Hospital in Ancon, Canal Zone, and between 1912 and 1940 successfully cultivated all three species of the malaria parasite.
He received numerous awards and medals and wrote a large number of brochures and articles on hookworm disease, malaria, the pellagra test for typhoid fever, diphtheria, and the prevention of pyorrhea. After his retirement he continued to write on many medical subjects.