File:Thomas Harris, M.D., Naval Surgeon (cropped).jpg

"THOMAS HARRIS, a naval surgeon of the first half of the nineteenth century, is a relatively unknown name in the history of American medicine, yet he had a most distinguished career. He was a surgeon of national reputation who operated upon President Jackson; he became administrative head of the Medical Department of the Navy, the office corresponding to the present title of Surgeon General; and he established the first school of naval medicine in the United States and, indeed, in the Americas. He maintained this school practically by his own efforts for over twenty years, and while it was eventually closed for lack of funds, it was the forerunner of the present Naval Medical School at the National Naval Medical Center, Bethesda, Maryland."