Tracy Jackson Putnam, 1894-1975

Biographical Sketch

Tracy J. Putnam was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on April 14, 1894. Following A.B. (1916) and M.D. (1920) degrees from Harvard University, his training included neurosurgery under Harvey Cushing at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital (1925-28) and neurology with Stanley Cobb at the Boston City Hospital neurological unit (1929-33).

Research early in Putnam's career is reflected later in his later patient case files. For example, the surgical treatment of hydrocephalus was attempted at Massachusetts General Hospital (1933-35).

From 1934-39 Putnam served as Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School and Chief of the Neurological Unit at Boston City Hospital. Putnam is probably best remembered for the 1938 article, "Sodium diphenyl hydantoinate in the treatment of convulsive disorders," Journal of the American Medical Association 111 (1938): 1068-1073, in which he and H. Houston Merritt introduced the nonsedative anticonvulsant, diphenyl hydantoin (Dilantin; Parke-Davis). This appeared in a stream of work devoted to examining the clinical and pharmacologic properties of numerous anti-epileptic medications.

Putnam was director of the services of Neurology and Neurological Surgery at the New York Neurological Institute from 1939-47, and Professor of the same disciplines at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University. During this period he was a founding member of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society (1946) and what later became the National Epilepsy Foundation (1946). In 1947 Putnam moved to Beverly Hills, California, to establish a private practice and consult at and later serve as Chief (1947-1958) of the Department of Neurosurgery at the Cedars of Lebanon Hospital in Los Angeles.

Tracy Jackson Putnam died March 29, 1975.

From the guide to the Tracy J. Putnam, M.D. Collection, 1938-1975., (Louise M. Darling Biomedical Library. History and Special Collections Division)