Background
John Addison Fordyce was born in Guernsey County, Ohio, the son of John and Mary (Houseman) Fordyce, of Scotch and German ancestry, respectively.
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John Addison Fordyce was born in Guernsey County, Ohio, the son of John and Mary (Houseman) Fordyce, of Scotch and German ancestry, respectively.
He was educated at Adrian College, Adrian, Mich. , where he received the degree of B. A. in 1878.
Graduating in medicine from Northwestern University Medical College in 1881, he served as interne for the next two years in the Cook County Hospital.
From 1883 to 1886 he practised medicine in Hot Springs, Arkansas, then gave up his practise and for three years studied in Europe.
He was also a pupil of Lassar and of Behrend, and at the St. Louis Hospital, Paris, studied under Besnier, Vidal, and Fournier.
In 1888 he received the degree of M. D. from the University of Berlin.
He was then appointed professor of dermatology in the Bellevue Hospital Medical College, where he remained for the next five years.
Returning to the United States in the same year Fordyce began the practise of medicine in New York City, specializing in dermatology and genito-urinary diseases. Within a few years his specialty became limited to dermatology and syphilology.
From 1889 to 1893 he was instructor and lecturer in the New York Polyclinic Hospital. He was then appointed professor of dermatology in the Bellevue Hospital Medical College, where he remained for the next five years.
In 1898, when New York University and Bellevue Hospital Medical College amalgamated, he accepted the position of professor of dermatology and syphilology in that institution. At this time (1898) the question arose whether patients having syphilis should be under the care of genitourinary surgeons or of the dermatologists. More than to any one man, the credit is due to him for bringing clearly to the fore the advantages of having the treatment of syphilis in the hands of the dermatologist.
As early as 1889 he became associated with Dr. P. A. Morrow, as editor of the Journal of Cutaneous and Genito-urinary Diseases (later the Journal of Cutaneous Diseases, Including Syphilis, and now the Archives of Dermatology and Syphilology).
In 1892 he became sole editor of the journal, and though he resigned that position five years later, he retained a place on the editorial committee until 1920.
In addition to his own research and writings, he did a great deal to stimulate original work by his contemooraries and associates. Probably one of his most important contributions to American medicine was his organization—in spite of numerous difficulties—of one of the best-known and best-equipped teaching centers of dermatology in the United States. Prior to this time, a man wishing to specialize in dermatology was forced to seek the necessary knowledge in clinics abroad. Fordyce was an indefatigable worker, and his tact and forceful personality attracted a group of men who with him constituted a brilliant staff, known throughout the world.
His death in 1925 followed an operation for appendicitis.
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Many of his pupils and associates are now prominent and successful specialists. Over one hundred and fifty postgraduate students received their training under his supervision.
He was a member of the American Museum of Natural History, New York Zoological Society, New York Academy of Sciences, and the Metropolitan Museum or Art.
He had the quality of leadership and was especially kind and lenient to younger men.
On June 29, 1886, Fordyce married Alice Dean Smith. They had two children.