Warfield M. Firor Collection

Biography

Warfield M. Firor was born in Baltimore. He received his A.B. in 1917 from the Johns Hopkins University and his M.D. in 1921 from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He remained at Johns Hopkins for residencies in both neurosurgery and surgery and became a faculty member and surgeon at Johns Hopkins. Firor played a major role in the national effort to raise the level of training in surgery and lectured on medicine throughout the United States. He conducted research on the effects of tetanus toxin on the spinal cord and investigated the treatment of diseased adrenal glands with hormone implants. Among Firor’s surgical contributions was the introduction of intestinal antisepsis in preparation for colon surgery.

Scope and Content

The Warfield M. Firor Collection primarily consists of a series of transcripted interviews in which Firor discussed various aspects of his career and colleagues at Johns Hopkins. Along with the interviews is an unpublished manuscript Comments About the Surgical Chiefs at the Johns Hopkins Hospital Between 1918 and 1938. The collection also includes biographical materials, reprints, and a program from Firor’s memorial service (15 August 1988).

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