American Student Health Association

Founded in 1921 to provide an organization in which institutions of higher learning and interested individuals might work together to promote student health.

Historical Note:

The American Student Health Association was founded in 1921 by Drs. Warren E. Forsythe, John Sundwall, and others to provide an organization in which institutions of higher learning and interested individuals might work together to promote student health. Thomas A. Storey, director of Stanford's Student Health Service for many years, was closely involved in the early work of the association.

The Student Health Services of this period attracted creative young physicians, women and men, who were anxious to develop new approaches to the practice of medicine. The first attempts at group health plans in the United States grew out of student health work. The A. S. H. A. involved iself in this effort to ensure that all students -regardless of financial status -received first-rate medical care. The A. S. H. A. promoted a "positive health" approach to medicine, which saw its primary purpose as treating the sick.

Growth of the organization led to the creation of regional sub-sections in the late 1920s. Subsequent to the time period covered in this collection, the A. S. H. A. changed its name to the American College Health Association.