Francis M. Pottenger

Francis Marion Pottenger (27 September 1869 – 10 June 1961) was an American physician and tuberculosis researcher.

Biography

Pottenger obtained his MD from the Cincinnati College of Medicine and Surgery in 1894. He qualified A.M. from Otterbein University in 1907 and L.L.D. in 1909. His wife Carrie Burtner died from tuberculosis in 1898 which prompted him to establish the Pottenger Sanitorium in Monrovia, California in 1903. Pottenger advocated the use of tuberculin which he believed would create a hostile environment for tuberculosis.

Pottenger founded the Southern California Anti-Tuberculosis League in 1903 for which he was President 1903–1906 and 1939–1941. In the 1940s, Pottenger was chairman of the Smog Committee of the Los Angeles County Medical Association.

Family

Pottenger married several times. He married his first wife Carrie Burtner in 1894.

Selected publications

Culture Products in the Treatment of Tuberculosis (1902) The Diagnosis and Treatment of Pulmonary Tuberculosis (1908) Tuberculin in Diagnosis and Treatment (1913) Symptoms of Visceral Disease (1919) Clinical Tuberculosis (1922) Tuberculosis and How to Combat It: A Book for the Patient (1929) The Fight Against Tuberculosis: An Autobiography (1952)