Hugh Hampton Young was an American surgeon, urologist, and medical researcher.
Background
Young was born on September 18, 1870 in San Antonio, Texas, the only child of William Hugh Young, a lawyer and real estate developer, and Frances Michie (Kemper) Young. His parents were descended from colonial families of Virginia, his father's forebear having come there from Ulster, Ireland, in 1741. Young's father and his paternal grandfather, Hugh Franklin Young, who had settled in Texas, fought with the Confederacy during the Civil War, both rising to the rank of brigadier general.
Education
Young attended public schools and, beginning at the age of fifteen, a succession of private schools: San Antonio Academy, the Aspinhill School, and Staunton Academy in Virginia. After a summer's work as surveyor with a group of engineers, he entered, in 1890, the University of Virginia, where he received both the A. B. and A. M. degrees in 1893 and the M. D. degree in 1894.
Career
Young spent a year in graduate study at the Johns Hopkins Hospital and a summer as pathologist and bacteriologist at the Thomas Wilson Sanitarium and then became an intern on the surgical staff of the Johns Hopkins Hospital, under William S. Halsted. Young had planned a career in general surgery, but Halsted determined his future by securing his appointment in 1897 as head of the genito-urinary dispensary at the hospital. The following year he became instructor in genito-urinary diseases and surgery at the Johns Hopkins Medical School. Successive promotions brought him in 1914 to the post of clinical professor of urology, and he was professor of urology from 1932 until his retirement in 1942. Beginning in 1898, he also carried on a private practice in Baltimore. Young was an eminent pioneer in the development of modern urology, particularly in the diagnosis and surgical treatment of prostatic hypertrophy. In 1903 he devised a radical operation for total removal of the cancerous prostate gland. He had remarkable mechanical ingenuity, designed improved versions of the cystoscope and other instruments, and invented a number of new instruments and novel surgical procedures for treating urogenital diseases. One of the most important of his devices was an instrument known as the Young Punch; used to excise the prostate gland in cases of urinary obstruction, it was the prototype of instruments that have come into general use. He also made pioneer studies in the diagnosis and treatment of hermaphroditism. Young was a brilliant teacher who demanded work of the highest quality from his interns and residents, took a warm interest in furthering their careers, and, when necessary, gave them financial aid. He trained large numbers of gifted young surgeons who themselves contributed to the field of urology. His skill as a surgeon brought him patients from throughout the United States, including many prominent persons. In 1912 he performed a successful operation on the celebrated James Buchanan ("Diamond Jim") Brady, who in gratitude donated funds for the establishment of the James Buchanan Brady Urological Institute at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. With Young as director, it accepted its first patients in January 1915. In 1917, when the United States entered World War I, Young went to France with the Army Medical Corps to organize a urological service, which under his direction significantly lowered the incidence of venereal disease among the troops. His war experiences interested him in the use of various dye compounds as antiseptic agents, and after his discharge in 1919, with the rank of colonel, he returned to the Brady Institute, where he and his associates developed the drug they named "mercurochrome, " which he used as an intravenous antiseptic. Young also pioneered in the use of sulfanilamide and other modern drugs in the treatment of venereal disease. Possessing abundant energy, powers of concentration, and organizing skill, Young managed to combine a teaching career and a busy private practice with extensive publication. He founded the Journal of Urology in 1917 and served as its editor until his death. He published more than 350 technical papers, and his book, Young's Practice of Urology (2 vols. , 1926), written with collaborators, became a classic. Young died of a coronary occlusion in the Brady Institute of the Johns Hopkins Hospital shortly before his seventy-fifth birthday.
Achievements
Religion
Young was an Episcopalian in religion.
Politics
Young took an active role in state and civic affairs. In 1903, working through an influential politician who had been his patient, he secured passage by the Maryland legislature of laws for the control of tuberculosis that set a precedent followed by other states. Young was a close friend of Ritchie and an active Democrat, and at the party's 1932 convention he was a leader in the movement to win Ritchie the presidential nomination. In his home city, Young served as vice-president of the Baltimore Museum of Art and president of the Baltimore Opera Club and of the Lyric Theatre.
Membership
Young was a member of many professional organizations, including the American Association of Genito-Urinary Surgeons (president, 1909), the American Urological Association (president, 1909), and the International Association of Urology (president, 1927). He served as chairman of the Maryland State Lunacy Commission (later the Board of Mental Hygiene) from its formation in 1908. An enthusiastic flyer, he was appointed chairman of the Maryland State Aviation Commission in 1929 by Gov. Albert C. Ritchie.
Personality
Young was a man of great personal charm, with an audacious wit.
Connections
On June 4, 1901, Young married Bessy Mason Colston of Catonsville, Md. Their four children were Frances Kemper, Frederick Colston, Helen Hampton, and Elizabeth Campbell.