Morgan Berthrong Collection

Biography

Morgan Berthrong was born in Aurora Hills, Virginia. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Pennsylvania in 1939 and earned his M.D. from the Harvard Medical School in 1943. After a surgical internship at the Roosevelt Hospital in New York City, Berthrong enlisted in the U.S. Army Medical Corps and was discharged with the rank of captain in 1946. Awaiting a surgical internship, he was accepted into the pathology internship at the Johns Hopkins Hospital and continued in that program becoming the Pathology Chief Resident in 1948-1949. Berthrong held the position of instructor in pathology and associate pathologist for one year. He then worked for a year as director of laboratories at the Massena Memorial Hospital, Potsdam Hospital and E. J. Noble Hospitals in St. Lawrence County, New York. He returned to Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine as an assistant professor in the department of pathology in 1951 and was named pathologist in charge surgical pathology of the Johns Hopkins Hospital in 1952. The following year Berthrong accepted the position as director of pathology at the Glockner-Penrose Hospital in Colorado Springs, Colorado where he stayed until his retirement in 1988. Berthrong established a strong department of pathology and residency program at Penrose Hospital and also taught pathology at the University of Colorado and the University of Mexico. His interest in radiation injury produced a book, Radiation Pathology, as well as collaboration with the radiation oncologist Juan del Regato in the organization of the Penrose Cancer Conference. Berthrong was inducted into the Johns Hopkins University’s Society of Scholars in 1991.

Scope and Content

The Morgan Berthrong Collection consists of an oral history transcript by Morgan Berthrong about the history of Surgical Pathology, a copy of the monograph “Keen Minds to Explore the Dark Continents of Disease: A History of Pathology Services at Massachusetts General Hospital” and a photo of the Johns Hopkins Hospital Surgical Pathology staff from 1967 which is signed by staff.

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