John H. Oliver

(Apr. 16, 1859-Oct. 16, 1927). Oliver was born in Clermont, Indiana, attended Butler and Wabash Colleges, and received an M.D. degree from the Medical College of Indiana in 1881. He also studied in London, Berlin, Paris, and Vienna.

Appointed professor of anatomy at the Indiana Dental College in 1881 and professor of surgery at the Medical College of Indiana in 1899, he became professor of surgery at the Indiana University School of Medicine in 1908 and later the first chair of the Department of Surgery. He was also a visiting surgeon at St. Vincent Hospital, where he served as chief of staff in the 1920s.

Oliver was prominent throughout the country for his work in industrial surgery and orthopedics. In 1902, he operated on President Theodore Roosevelt, who was passing through Indianapolis on a western trip when the president suffered complications from an old leg injury. Oliver was also very active in medical organizations, serving as president of the Indianapolis Medical Society in 1906 and of the Indiana State Medical Association in 1917.

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