Pope, Charles A. (Charles Alexander), 1818-1870

Surgeon and medical educator.

Charles Alexander Pope (1818-1870) received his undergraduate degree from the University of Alabama and medical degree from the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania in 1839. Before going to Philadelphia, he attended a first course of medical lectures at Cincinnati Medical College with Dr. Daniel Drake. He then went to Paris, France for two years of further education at the hospitals and lectures of the eminent physicians and surgeons of Paris. In January 1842, he began his professional career as a surgeon in St. Louis. He was soon ranked as among the leading surgeons of the west. He joined the faculty and administration of the medical department of St. Louis University and which later became the independent proprietary St. Louis Medical College in 1843, serving as: professor of anatomy and physiology, (1843-1844), professor of anatomy (1844-1847), professor of the principles and practice of surgery, and clinical surgery, 1847-1870) and dean (1849-1864). He became president of the American Medical Association in 1854. Sources: Hyde's "history of St. Louis, v. 3, p. 1780-1781; History of the St. Louis Medical College, 1898, p. 9.