Merrill Clary Sosman papers

Merrill Clary Sosman (1890-1959), A.B., 1913, University of Wisconsin, Madison; M.D., 1917, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, was Clinical Professor of Radiology at Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts (1948-1956), and Roentgenologist-in-Chief at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, Boston (1922-1956). Sosman was a leader in diagnosis by x-ray, the first to describe the calcification of heart valves as determined by x-ray, and significantly contributed to the establishment of a Department of Radiology at Harvard Medical School.

Merrill Clary Sosman was born on 23 June 1890 in Chillicothe, Ohio to Francis Sosman and Mary Browning Sosman. He received an A.B. from the University of Wisconsin, Madison in 1913 and earned an M.D. from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland in 1917. After graduating from medical school, Sosman became a First Lieutenant in the United States Army Medical Corps and was a resident physician at the United States Soldiers’ Home Hospital in Washington, D.C. At this time, the Surgeon General of the United States decided that Sosman should focus his work on the field of roentgenology (radiology using x-rays) and in 1919 he was assigned to Walter Reed General Hospital in Washington, D.C. as a roentgenologist. In 1921, he moved to Boston to train under roentgenologist George W. Holmes (born 1876) at Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston. However, in 1922, Harvey Cushing (1869-1939), Surgeon-in-Chief at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, Boston, recruited Sosman to become Roentgenologist-in-Chief at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, a position Sosman held until his retirement in 1956. Concurrent to this appointment, Sosman also served as: Consulting Roentgenologist at the Collis P. Huntington Memorial Hospital, Boston, and Cape Cod Hospital, Hyannis; Associate Roentgenologist at Children’s Hospital, Boston; and Roentgenologist at the New England Peabody Home, Newton. After his retirement from Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, Sosman served as Consultant in Radiology at Massachusetts General Hospital. At Harvard Medical School, Simon served as Assistant in Roentgenology, 1922 to 1923; Instructor in Roentgenology, 1923 to 1924; Assistant Professor of Roentgenology, 1928 to 1940; Clinical Professor, 1940 to 1944; and Clinical Professor of Radiology in 1948, becoming Emeritus in 1956.

During the course of his career, Sosman authored over eighty papers in scientific journals on the diagnosis and treatment of disease or tumors by x-ray and was an active member of many professional organizations. He was Chairman of the Section of Radiology for the American Medical Association from 1938 to 1939, and President of the New England Roentgen Ray Society, the American Roentgen Ray Society, and the Harvey Cushing Society. He was also a member of the Radiological Society of North America and the American College of Radiology. Sosman lectured extensively nationally and internationally and was named the Caldwell Lecturer of the American Roentgen Ray Society in 1947 and the Carman Lecturer of the Radiological Society of North America in 1948.

Merrill Clary Sosman married Arline Adams in 1918. They had two children, J. Leland Sosman, M.D. (1920-2008), who was a radiologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and a daughter, Barbara Munson. Sosman died of a cerebral hemorrhage in 1959.