Joseph D. Bryant

Joseph Decatur Bryant (March 12, 1845 April 7, 1914) He attended public school in Troy

Bryant attended Norwich Academy and received his medical degree from Bellevue Hospital Medical College in 1868. He remained at Bellevue Hospital as an intern from 1869 to 1871, after which he became an assistant to the professor of anatomy at the Medical College. He lectured for several years on surgical anatomy before being appointed to the position of professor of general descriptive and surgical anatomy in 1877. In 1883 he was named professor of anatomy and clinical surgery, and associate professor of orthopedic surgery. In 1898 he became professor of the principles and practice of surgery, a position he would retain for the remainder of his teaching career. In 1908, he received the honorary degree of LL. D. from New York University.

Career In 1873 he was appointed as a sanitary inspector of the New York City Health Department, a position he held until 1879. In 1887 he was appointed by New York Mayor Abram Hewitt as one of the city's Health Commissioners, and in the same year he was also appointed a Commissioner of the New York State Board of Health. As a Health Commissioner, he worked to protect the city from the effects of unsanitary conditions of the sewage system of the day, and to reduce the effects of disease brought into the city by immigrants. Although his term as Health Commissioner did not expire until May 1893, he resigned from both positions in March 1893, stating that he wanted to allow his successor time to familiarize himself with the position before the summer, when the worst health problems surface.

Bryant was a close personal friend of Grover Cleveland, often accompanying him on hunting and fishing excursions. The facts of the surgery were not released until 1917, after the death of both Cleveland and Bryant.

Published works Among his published works are the two-volume Manual of Operative Surgery (1884) and the eight-volume Bryant and Buck's American Practice of Surgery (1906–1911). He also authored many articles on surgical and anatomical subjects.

Personal life Bryant married Annette Amelia Crum, the daughter of Samuel Crum, on September 29, 1874. They had one daughter.

On March 11, 1914, Bryant was hospitalized with complications from diabetes. He died on April 7, 1914, and was buried in Norwich, New York.