Jerome Pierce Webster

Jerome Pierce Webster (August 2, 1888, Ashland, New Hampshire – November 14, 1974, Riverdale, Bronx, New York City) was an American plastic surgeon, professor of clinical surgery, historian of medicine, and collector of books and manuscripts on surgery. He is sometimes called "the founder of plastic surgery education in the United States."

Education and WWI service Jerome Pierce Webster, youngest of three siblings, graduated in 1906 from Holderness Boys School, J. P. Webster then matriculated at Hartford's Trinity College, In July 1916 Webster took a leave of absence to go to Berlin as a special assistant to James W. Gerard, the American Ambassador to Germany, to inspect medical conditions at prisoner-of-war camps in Germany. For this work as an inspector, Webster was honored by the British government. When the USA entered WW I in April 1917, he joined the United States Army Medical Corps as an officer assigned to the 30th Engineer Regiment (Gas and Flame) — which in July 1918 was renamed the 1st Gas Regiment. He saw action on three fronts in France and won the Croix de Guerre with Gold Star. In August 1922, J. P. Webster's father (an Episcopalian priest) and mother went to the Peking Union Medical College, where Reverend Webster had an appointment as a professor of English. However, Reverend Webster died in July 1923 in Beijing. After 8 months of work under Blair, Webster accepted in 1928, with an invitation from the surgeon Allen Whipple, a position at New York-Presbyterian Hospital. There Webster practiced surgery from 1928 to 1954, becoming a consultant in 1954. From 1928 to 1954 he was in charge of the plastic surgery service of the Vanderbilt Clinic managed by the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. There he held an appointment in surgery as an associate from 1931 to 1935, an assistant professor from 1935 to 1948, and a full professor from 1948 to 1954, when he retired as professor emeritus. He developed the plastic surgery service of the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons into one of the world's best, serving over 60,000 patients and contributing important research. Webster's program for Plastic Surgery Residency at New York-Presbyterian Hospital trained more than 40 surgeons, many of whom went on to establish outstanding reputations in plastic surgery. One such former resident was Webster's successor, George Francis Crikelair (1920–2005), who directed the plastic surgery service at Columbia from 1959 to 1971.

Webster focused on reconstructive, rather than cosmetic, plastic surgery. In 1937 he was one of 11 founding members of the American Board of Plastic Surgery. During WW II, he directed, with the aid of 75 instructors, a series of courses in plastic surgery for the instruction of U.S. Army medical and dental officers. From 1944 to 1946, with Robert H. Ivy, he inspected in the USA the 9 plastic surgery centers run by the U.S. Army. He received the 1972 Honorary Award from the American Society of Plastic Surgeons and in 1973 the Academy Plaque from the New York Academy of Medicine.

Club memberships Webster joined the Grolier Club in 1935 and the Century Association in 1936. As a member of the Charaka Club, he read in January 1952 at a club meeting his paper entitled The story of a plastic surgery library. A member of both the Riverdale Yacht Club and the Saint Andrew's Golf Club, he was an avid golfer, especially during his retirement. In 1951 J. P. Webster married his second wife Emily Brune Randall (1890–1965). Upon his death in 1974 he was survived by three children (a daughter Geraldine and twin sons, Jerome Pierce Webster Jr. and G. Hartley D. Webster) from his first marriage and 11 grandchildren. Jerome P. Webster Sr. is buried in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, where both of his wives and many members of the Rockefeller family are buried.

Selected publications editorial mentioned by Webster: