Revolutionary changes in medicine and ophthalmology--the St. Louis, MO, effect: Homer G. Phillips Hospital and Dr. Howard Phillip venable.

PURPOSE

To provide information on the revolutionary changes in medicine, particularly on the development of African-Americans in ophthalmology, created by Homer G. Phillips Hospital in St. Louis and the late Dr. Howard Phillip Venable.

METHODS

Very little has been written about Homer G. Phillips Hospital and Dr. H. Phillip Venable. Through personal interviews with physicians trained by Dr. Venable and literature review, I was able to obtain information on Homer G. Phillips Hospital and Dr. Venable's influence in breaking the color line in medicine and ophthalmology.

RESULTS

Homer G. Phillips Hospital in St. Louis was a major teaching hospital for African-American doctors. Dr. Venable was one of a few African-American ophthalmologists in the 1940s. Dr. Venable then trained approximately 40 African-American ophthalmologists at Homer G. Phillips Hospital between 1943 to 1979, when the hospital closed.

CONCLUSION

The ophthalmologists trained by Dr. Venable have gone forward to treat thousands of patients with blinding eye diseases such as glaucoma and diabetes, and to influence others to become ophthalmologists. Although the hospital has closed and Dr. Venable has passed away, their existence has reformed the medical treatment received by African-Americans and other people.