Franc D. Ingraham papers

Franc Douglas Ingraham (1898-1965), B.S., 1922, Harvard College, Cambridge, Massachusetts; M.D., 1925, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, was Associate Professor of Surgery, Emeritus, at Harvard Medical School, Neurosurgeon in Chief, Emeritus, at Children’s Hospital Boston, Massachusetts, and Neurological Surgeon at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts. Throughout his career, Ingraham’s research centered on pediatric neurosurgery, and in 1929 he launched the nation’s first pediatric neurosurgical service at Children’s Hospital Boston. With Edwin J. Cohn (1892-1953), he is credited with separating fibrin foam and fibrin film from human blood plasma, and introducing their uses in neurosurgery as a hemostatic agent and a dural substitute, respectively.

Franc Douglas Ingraham was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1898, to Alexander Ingraham (born 1860) and Eliza Jane Caldwell Ingraham (born 1860). He received his B.S. from Harvard College in 1922 and his M.D. from Harvard Medical School in 1925. He completed his residency in surgery at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital (1927-1928), where he worked under neurosurgeon Harvey Cushing (1869-1939). Ingraham then spent one year as a Peter Bent Brigham Traveling Fellow in Surgery, at the Oxford University Department of Physiology in England, before returning to Boston in 1929. On his return, Ingraham launched the nation’s first pediatric neurosurgical service at Children’s Hospital Boston, where he was named Visiting Surgeon. In 1930, he was appointed Assistant in Surgery at Harvard Medical School, and in 1940 he was named Associate in Neurosurgery at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital. His subsequent appointments at Children’s Hospital Boston include: Acting Head of the Department of Surgery (1945-1947); Surgeon in Chief (1945-1947); Neurosurgeon in Chief (1946-1964); and Neurosurgeon in Chief, Emeritus (1964-1965). His Harvard Medical School appointments include: Instructor in Surgery (1939-1940); Associate in Surgery (1941-1943); Assistant Professor of Surgery (1944-1946); Associate Professor of Surgery (1947-1964); and Associate Professor of Surgery, Emeritus (1964-1965). Ingraham also served as Senior Associate in Neurosurgery (1944-1947) and Neurological Surgeon (1948-1964) at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital. Throughout his career, Ingraham was active on numerous joint committees of the National Research Council and the United States Office of Scientific Research and Development, including: the Committee on Surgery; the Subcommittee on Blood Substitutes; the Subcommittee on Neurosurgery; and the Conference on Fibrin Film. He also consulted for the neurosurgical services of many Boston area hospitals.

Ingraham’s research centered on a variety of topics in neurosurgery, including pediatric neurosurgery. With Edwin J. Cohn, he separated fibrin foam and fibrin film from human blood plasma, and introduced their respective uses as a hemostatic agent in surgery and as a dural substitute in neurosurgery. Fibrin foam significantly shortened the time necessary for neurosurgical operations, and was widely used by the United States Military during World War II. In addition to his research activities, Ingraham served as President of the Harvey Cushing Society, President of the Boston Surgical Society, Trustee of the Associates of the Yale Medical Library, and was a member of the Editorial Board for the Journal of Neurosurgery. His further professional affiliations include: the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; the American Board of Neurological Surgeons; the American Neurological Association; the American Pediatric Society; the American Surgical Association; the International Society of Surgery; the Scandinavian Neurosurgical Society; and the Society of British Neurological Surgeons. With Donald D. Matson (1913-1969), Ingraham published the first pediatric neurosurgery textbook, Neurosurgery of Infancy and Childhood (1954).

Franc D. Ingraham married Martha Wheatland (born 1904) on November 24, 1931. He had a son, Timothy A. Ingraham, and a daughter, Alice W. Ingraham. Ingraham died on 4 December, 1965, in Brookline, Massachusetts.