Frederick D. Stubbs

Frederick Douglass Stubbs (March 16, 1906 – February 9, 1947) was one of the first Harvard-trained Black doctors and became the first African American thoracic surgeon. He was "one of the country’s greatest young surgeons" noted for his advancements in treating pulmonary tuberculosis.

Early life Frederick Douglass Stubbs was born in Wilmington, Delaware on March 16, 1906. His parents were Florence Blanche (née Williams) and J. Bacon Stubbs, a physician and surgeon who graduated from Howard University College of Medicine. His mother was related to Daniel Hale Williams, an innovator of open-heart surgery and the founder of Provident Hospital in Chicago, Illinois.

Stubbs graduated as the class valedictorian from Howard High School in Wilmington in 1922. He attended the Cushing Academy from 1922 to 1923. At Dartmouth, he was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He was also received a Rufus Choate scholarship, allowing him to spend a summer studying at the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole, Massachusetts. His two years in Cleveland included the study of thoracic surgery. In 1936, Philadelphia Mayor Samuel Davis Wilson appointed Stubbs to the position of assistant surgeon at Philadelphia General Hospital, Stubbs was the first Black member of the hospital's staff. Later, he was acting chief surgeon of the division of tuberculosis of Philadelphia General Hospital.

Personal life Stubbs married Marion Virginia Turner, a Philadelphia socialite and concert pianist who was the daughter of the surgeon John P. Turner, The couple had two daughters, Marion Patricia Stubbs and Frederica Turner Stubbs. Their winter home was at 1920 N. 12th Street in Philadelphia and they had a summer home at West Valley Road in Strafford, Pennsylvania.

Stubbs served on the boards of the Cheney Training School for Teachers, the Community Chest, and the Family Society. He was a member of Sigma Pi Phi.

While traveling by train from New York City to Long Island City with his wife, Stubbs died from a heart attack on February 9, 1947, at the age of 41. He was pronounced dead at St. John's Hospital in Long Island.

Selected publications

"Phrenic, Exeresis in Treatment of Pulmonary Tuberculosis". Pennsylvania Medical Journal, vol. 39, p. 776, 1936. "Surgical Treatment of Pulmonary Tuberculosis in The Small General Hospital" Provident Hospital Bulletin, vol. 2, p. 1, 1939. "Acute Silicosis". Archives of Pathology, vol. 24, p. 274, 1939. "Closed Intrapleural Pneumonolysis with Report of 40 Cases". National Medical Association, vol. 31, p. 93, 1939. "The Fundamental Physiologic Concepts Underlying Major Surgery of the Chest". Journal of the National Medical Association, vol. 35, p. 1, 1943. (Third Annual Oration in Surgery, N. M. A.) "Closed Intrapleural Pneumonolysis: A Resume". Clinics, vol. 3, p. 1123, 1945. (Abstract in Year Book of Surgery, 1945) "Present Trends in The Surgical Treatment of Pulmonary Tuberculosis" Bulletin of the National Tuberculosis Association, June 1945. (Trudeau Society Article)