William Brown

William Brown (1748 - January 11 1792) was a physician, and a member of the American Philosophical Society, elected in 1780.

Raised in Maryland, Brown returned to his place of birth, Scotland,

In 1777 Congress elected Brown Surgeon General. He spent a dismal winter with General George Washington in Valley Forge. His services were well used for the remainder of the war and, in recognition, he replaced Benjamin Rush as Physician General in 1788. Brown relocated to a new general hospital at Lititz, in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania where he made a number of changes to improve the facilities and capacities at the hospital, including sanitation improvements and assessing the supply of affordable medications for future wartimes. His list of medications became his Pharmacopeia Simpliciorum et Effecaciorum in usum Nocosomii Militaris, and was the first of its kind printed in the United States.