 leonard andrew scheele (july 25, 1907 â january 8, 1993) was an american physician and public servant. he was appointed the seventh surgeon general of the united states from 1948 to 1956. ==life== ===early years=== scheele was born in fort wayne, indiana. while in high school, he worked in his father's pharmacy and planned to enter medicine. for his undergraduate education, scheele chose the university of michigan (b.a., 1931) over indiana university, citing the former's medical reputation but ended up following his future spouse, then a dental student, to detroit. he received his m.d. in 1934 from the detroit college of medicine and surgery (now the wayne state university school of medicine). ===career=== scheele graduated at the height of the great depression. inspired by one of his medical school professors, who taught preventive medicine and directed the laboratories at the michigan state health department, scheele followed up on a recruitment visit by public health service (phs) officers from detroit's marine hospital. encouraged by his school's dean, he competed successfully for an internship at chicago's marine hospital (1933â1934). once scheele accepted a commission as an assistant surgeon (july 2, 1934), he began a series of rotations at quarantine stations, in san francisco and san pedro, california and at honolulu, hawaii, where a light schedule of duties included inspecting aircraft at pearl harbor. the new deal and the national cancer act of 1937 transformed public health, and scheele's career. reassigned to washington, dc during 1936, scheele came to the attention of then-surgeon general thomas parran, jr. and one of his top lieutenants, joseph mountin, who choose scheele to join a new division of public health methods. after a brief field assignment in public health administration (acting county health officer, queen anne's county, maryland), scheele was sent by mountin for clinical training (1937â1939) in new york city at the memorial hospital for cancer and allied diseases (now the memorial sloan-kettering cancer center). on his return, scheele served as offi
1907_births 1993_deaths American_physicians Surgeons_General_of_the_United_States University_of_Michigan_alumni Wayne_State_University_alumni