McLean, Franklin C. (Franklin Chambers), 1888-

Medical educator, administrator, and physiologist. Born 1888. S.B., University of Chicago, 1907; M.S. in pharmacology, 1912; Ph. D. in physiology, 1915. M.D., Rush Medical College, 1910. Director, Peking Union Medical College, 1916. Chairman, Department of Medicine and Director, University Clinics, University of Chicago, 1923-1932. Professor, Department of Physiology, 1933-1965. Died 1968.

From the description of Papers, 1881-1968. (University of Chicago Library). WorldCat record id: 52246198

Franklin Chambers McLean was born February 29, 1888, in Maroa, Illinois, the son of William T. and Margaret Crocker McLean. The son and grandson of physicians, he received his bachelor's degree from the University of Chicago in 1907, his M.D. from Rush Medical College in 1910, and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in 1912 and 1915, respectively. During his years of graduate study, he interned at Cook County Hospital, taught pharmacology at the University of Oregon, and also studied for a time at the universities of Graz and Vienna.

In 1914, McLean joined the staff of the Rockefeller Institute in New York. While there he formed close relationships with Alfred E. Cohn, Donald D. Van Slyke, and Rufus Cole as well as meeting Abraham Flexner and Simon Flexner. All these men were concerned with developments in medical education and research and supported the "full time" plan, in which professors were salaried and worked full time in the medical school instead of supporting themselves in private practice. It was with these ideas in mind that in 1916 McLean was placed in charge of the Peking Union Medical College, which was sponsored by the Rockefeller Foundation in an attempt to make medical training available in China comparable to the best in the U.S. and Europe. McLean made two trips to China before joining the Army Medical Corps for service during World War I. He returned in 1919 to supervise the building of the hospital and laboratories which were completed in 1921. Resigning his administrative duties in 1920, McLean remained as chairman and professor of medicine until 1923, when he returned to the U.S. While in China, he met Helen Vincent, also a medical doctor, and they married in 1923.

Upon his return, McLean was invited to direct the new medical school being planned for the University of Chicago. It was to be operated on the full time plan that Abraham Flexner advocated, and was intended mainly to train researchers and to promote scholarly investigations by its faculty. Building on his experience in China and committed to the full time approach of his colleagues, he set about work in Chicago, overseeing the building plans, staffing the new departments and raising funds.

The medical school opened in 1927 with McLean serving as vice-chairman of the faculty and chairman of the Department of Medicine. In 1929 he resigned the department chair in order to assume the title of Director of University Clinics and Assistant to the President in Medical Affairs. When President Robert Hutchins reorganized the graduate departments in 1930, McLean was offered the deanship of a division for the clinical departments, but he insisted that they be included within the Biological Sciences Division, emphasizing their connection to the sciences. The school made auspicious beginnings and the hospitals continued to expand, with McLean playing a key role in the building of Bobs Roberts, Chicago Lying-In, and McElwee-Hicks Hospitals. Financially, however, the school was in trouble because of the depression and a lack of sufficient endowments. The full time system was a heavy burden and although McLean secured several large donations, including $500,000 from Julius Rosenwald, Albert Lasker, and Max Epstein, they did not meet the increasing deficits. The full time plan was not universally popular, either, and McLean was closely associated with it and the frictions it created. His forthright manner made him the focal point of policy disputes, and also led to a number of personal grievances among the faculty members. When George Dick was appointed chairman of the Department of Medicine in 1932, McLean was forced to resign.

fterward, McLean was offered a professorship in the Department of Physiology, and leaving behind all administrative duties, he turned his full attention to research. He made this transition easily and went on to contribute to important advances in the study of electrolyte and mineral metabolism, radiation biology, and the physiology of bone. During World War II he directed the Toxicity laboratory, which conducted experiments for the Army on chemical warfare agents. McLean was made Professor Emeritus in 1953, but continued his work, which included publishing, with Marshall R. Urist, three editions of Bone: An Introduction to the Physiology of Skeletal Tissue in 1955, 1961, and 1968.

McLean also made life-long efforts to aid African-American students who desired medical training. He served as a trustee of the Julius Rosenwald Fund and Fisk University, and was closely associated with Provident Hospital and National Medical Fellowships, Inc. He also trained a number of students, co-published books and articles, and inspired loyal sentiments in many of them.

Franklin C. McLean died on September 10, 1968, at Billings Hospital.

From the guide to the McLean, Franklin C. Papers, 1881-1969, (Special Collections Research Center University of Chicago Library 1100 East 57th Street Chicago, Illinois 60637 U.S.A.)