Winchell McKendree Craig

Background

Winchell McKendree Craig was born on April 27, 1892 in Washington Court House, Ohio, United States. He was the son of Thomas Henry Craig, a dry-goods merchant, and Eliza Orlena Pine.

Education

After attending public school in Washington Court House and Culver Military Academy, Craig in 1915 received the B. A. degree from Ohio Wesleyan University. In 1919 he was graduated with the M. D. from Johns Hopkins University. His master's thesis was on tumors of the spinal cord, and in 1930 he received the M. S. degree in surgery from the University of Minnesota.

Career

From 1919 to 1921 he served internships at New Haven (Connecticut) Hospital and Roosevelt Hospital in New York City and a residency in surgery at Saint Agnes Hospital in Baltimore. During the next three years he was a fellow in surgery at the Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, in Rochester, Minnesota. He joined the staff of the Mayo Clinic in 1926 as a neurosurgeon.

Craig became instructor in neurologic surgery at the Mayo Foundation Graduate School in 1927, assistant professor in 1929, associate professor in 1932, and professor of neurosurgery in 1937.

From 1946 to 1959 he was director of civil defense for Rochester and Olmsted County; he then became field representative of the American Medical Association's Council on Medical Education and Hospitals. He resigned this position in November 1959 to accept appointment by President Eisenhower as special assistant for health and medical affairs to Arthur S. Flemming, United States secretary of health, education, and welfare.

During World War I Craig served as a member of an emergency corps recruited at Johns Hopkins to fight influenza at Camp Meade, Maryland.

In 1927 he organized the Mayo Clinic medical specialists' unit of the United States Naval Reserve in which he served until 1941 with the initial rank of lieutenant and subsequently that of commander. He was called to active duty in the navy in 1941 and took his unit (Fifty-fourth Medical Specialists' Unit) to the United States Naval Hospital in Corona, California, where he became chief of surgery. Advanced to captain in 1942, he was transferred to the National Naval Medical Center at Bethesda, Maryland, where he served as chief of surgery until 1945. He was promoted to rear admiral in 1943 and was transferred to the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery in Washington, D. C. , to direct the graduate training program. Craig was the first civilian physician in the history of the navy to reach the grade of rear admiral.

He returned to civilian life on January 31, 1946. After the war Craig served as a reserve consultant to the surgeon general of the navy, as a civilian consultant to the Veterans Administration, and as a member of the Naval Research Division of the National Research Council.

In 1949 Craig was appointed by Secretary of Defense Louis A. Johnson to a special task force to study the relations between officers in the regular medical services of the armed forces and those in the civilian components or reserve corps.

In 1955 and 1957, he lectured to naval personnel stationed at medical installations in the Far East. Craig's intention when he first came to the Mayo Foundation in 1921 was to become a general surgeon; in fact, his graduate training was concentrated on general surgery, surgical pathology, general medical and surgical diagnosis, and postoperative treatment. Subsequently he served in turn as resident physican at the Colonial Hospital, first assistant in neurology, associate in surgery, and associate in neurosurgery.

Thereafter, Craig's prime interest in practice, research, and publication was neurologic surgery.

When Craig entered neurosurgery, most surgeons were extremely reluctant to operate on the brain or spinal cord because of the seemingly insurmountable technical and physiological problems. Craig and his contemporaries persisted with unremitting effort to evolve this complex and difficult branch of surgery into a distinct and respected specialty.

Craig had none of the irascible or tempestuous temperament that tradition has accorded the neurosurgeon. Even under the most exasperating stresses of the operating room, he remained calm and quiet, master of the situation and unfailingly considerate of the younger surgeons under his direction. His vast experience and basic intuition helped form Craig as a master diagnostician. Tribute to Craig's renown were several memorable experiences involving famous patients. During the Quebec Conference (1943), Winston Churchill called the attention of President Roosevelt to the fact that his chief cartographer, Richard Pim, was suffering greatly from sciatica and pain in the lower back. Roosevelt had Rear Admiral Ross T. McIntire, his personal physician, see Pim, and a diagnosis of protruded intervertebral disk was immediately made. Pim was flown to Washington, and Craig removed a large herniated disk found to be lying free in the vertebral canal. Immediate relief was effected.

In January 1944, Craig was invited by McIntire to see President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was complaining of a knot on the back of his head that seemed to be increasing in size. On February 4, 1944, at the United States Naval Hospital, Craig removed a benign epidermoid cyst from the president's head. Also in 1944, Craig removed a grade 4 astrocytoma from Senator Charles McNary of Oregon. McNary was able to return to the Senate briefly but knew from a discussion with Craig that he only had a short time to live. He got his Senate affairs in order and before he died wrote Craig that he greatly appreciated his frankness and help. Craig gave the William J. Mayo Lecture at the University of Michigan in 1940 and the first W. J. and C. H. Mayo Memorial Lectureship at Dartmouth Medical School in 1942.

In 1946 he was elected president of the Society of Neurological Surgeons, in 1948 president of the Harvey Cushing Society, and in 1953 president of the Association of Military Surgeons of the United States. In 1957 he delivered the George M. Kober Memorial Lecture at Georgetown University.

Craig died in Rochester, Minnesota.

Achievements

• He was head of the section of neurologic surgery of the Mayo Clinic from 1946 to 1955 and subsequently senior consultant until his retirement in 1957. He became widely known for his works on surgery of the sympathetic nervous system, the surgical treatment of hypertension, and the classification of tumors of the brain and spinal cord. The Craig headrest, which he described in 1935, is still widely used in ventriculography and other neurosurgical procedures. He was responsible for more than 300 contributions to the medical and surgical literature. He was awarded the Legion of Merit, the Naval Reserve Medal, and the Bronze Star.

Connections

On February 16, 1928, Craig married Jean Katherine Fitzgerald. They had four children.

Father:

Thomas Henry Craig

merchant

Mother:

Eliza Orlena Pine

Spouse:

Jean Katherine Fitzgerald