Surgical triumvirate of Theodor Kocher, Harvey Cushing, and William Halsted.

Abstract

It is difficult to evaluate precisely the effects of one individual on an entire discipline such as surgery. Indeed, it is impossible to do so when such a discipline spans so vast a country as the United States of America. Nevertheless, as a mountain peak can be seen from afar, so may one perceive the influence of man of Kocher's stature. His connection with Halsted and especially Cushing provided a direct link between the grandeur of Kocher's achievements and their lineal translation to a generation of evolving American surgeons. Both individuals, by personal example and professional endeavor, transmitted the precepts of Kocher to the nascent surgical fellowship of America. Thus the icon of Swiss surgery, recognized by a Nobel laureate and esteemed by his European colleagues, became a profound influence on American surgery. The triumvirate of Kocher, Cushing, and Halsted may thus be acknowledged as of vital consequence to the establishment of American surgery during the twentieth century.