Samuel Powel Griffitts

Samuel Powel Griffitts (July 21, 1759 – May 12, 1826, sometimes also written as "Griffiths") was an American medical doctor, widely regarded as the founder, in 1786, of the Philadelphia Dispensary (a free clinic for poor people). He was an early member of the American Philosophical Society, elected in 1785.

Life

Griffitts was born into a Quaker family in Philadelphia, the third son of William and Abigail Powel Griffitts.

His education was interrupted by the American Revolution, particularly the Philadelphia campaign. Together with his classmate Caspar Wistar, Griffitts was one of the medical volunteers who treated wounded soldiers after the nearby Battle of Germantown.

Upon completion of his medical degree in 1781, Griffitts sought training in Europe, as did many physicians of his generation. Benjamin Rush gave him a list of eighteen recommendations for medical students in Europe: (Powel, his mother's brother, had been Philadelphia's last colonial mayor (1775–1776) and would later be its mayor again (1789–1790).)

Funding for the Philadelphia Dispensary would come from subscriptions, while physicians were expected to volunteer their services. Soon 320 subscriptions were gathered and a building was found; the clinic first opened early in 1786. Griffitts headed the list of the dispensary's first doctors and continued to make daily visits to its patients for more than forty years.

In 1792, he was elected Professor of Materia Medica at the University of Pennsylvania, and held this position for four years before resigning it to Benjamin Smith Barton. Griffitts continued practicing medicine and serving the community for the remainder of his life until succumbing to a sudden illness in 1826.