About Walter Reed Army Medical Center - DCMilitary.com

Major Walter Reed
1851-1902
Walter Reed Army Medical Center memorializes one of the
most famous American physicians in history — Maj. Walter
Reed.
Born in Virginia to a church minister's family in 1851, Reed
earned two medical degrees by his 20th birthday, the first from
the University of Virginia, and the second from Bellevue
Hospital Medical College in New York.
In 1875, Reed applied for a commission in the Army as an
assistant surgeon. After passing the acceptance examinations,
he served nearly 20 years at several remote posts on the
American frontier and also on the east coast and the southern
states.
Reed treated the Native American leader of the Chiricahua
Apache-Geronimo, and other Apache internees while stationed
in Alabama. Reed, according to his commanding officer, provided
the Native Americans with the same treatment and care
as all his other patients.
Reed also delivered his own children, one of whom, Walter
Lawrence Reed, became an Army major general and inspector
general of the Army from 1935 to 1939.
In 1893, the Army transferred Reed to Washington Barracks
in Washington, D.C., and promoted him to major. He also
became curator of the Army Medical Museum, (established in
1862 and the predecessor to the Armed Forces Institute of
Pathology, now located on the Walter Reed campus). Reed was
a founding faculty member of the new Army Medical School,
also established in 1893. He taught at Columbian College medical
school (now George Washington University), attended lectures
at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, Md., and established a
reputation as a leading physician and bacteriologist in the
nation. He served on several important research teams, including
the Army's typhoid board.
In 1900, Reed served as head of the Yellow Fever Board in
Cuba. Through this research effort, it was proved the transmission
of yellow fever was caused by the mosquito, which led to
the control and eradication of the disease. For this work, Reed
became a world-renowned Army physician.
In 1902, Reed developed appendicitis and later died from its
effects. (Walter Reed Army Medical Center History Center)
2 “Home of Warior Care and So Much More”