Schlueter, Robert E. (Robert Ernst), 1872-1955

Robert E. Schlueter (1872-1955) was a physician-scholar educated in St. Louis before the Flexner report. His work as a pharmacist's assistant led to professional education at the St. Louis College of Pharmacy (Ph. G. 1891) and the Missouri Medical College (M.D. 1895). He served an informal internship at St. John's as surgical assistant for Theodore F. Prewitt, M.D, while he taught physiology and pharmacy at Missouri Medical College (1896-1899). His skill as a surgeon grew with private practice (1895-1955) and clinic and hospital appointments at O'Fallon Dispensary and at City, DePaul, Deaconess, Lutheran, Mullanphy, St. Anthony's and St. John's hospitals. Schlueter taught surgery at Washington University until 1916, although he disapproved of the absorption of Missouri Medical College into Washington University. He was associate professor of surgery at the St. Louis University (1923-ca. 1949).

In 1909-1910, Schlueter enjoyed fourteen months of travel and post-graduate study of surgery, pathology and medical history in Europe. As he attended lectures by Pagel, Neuberger, and other medical men, he amassed collections for further study and the writing of papers. Thus began his large book collection on Paracelsus, the 16th century physician and philosopher, which he gave to the St. Louis Medical Society in 1938. Likewise, work in the pathological lab of a Nuremburg hospital yielded a surgical pathology slide collection which Schlueter later gave to Lutheran Hospital in 1928. After his return, he became a leader in professional organizations as president of the St. Louis Medical Society (1911), Missouri Medical Society (1918), and St. Louis Surgical Society (1941). Sources: Schlueter autobiography typescript, ca. 1930-1940; Amer. Men & Women Sci., 1949; Weekly Bulletin of the St. Louis Medical Society, June 10, 1949, p. 491-496.

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