Albert Vander Veer Albert Vander Veer ( July 10 , 1841 - December 19 , 1929 ) , was a pioneering American , credited with performing the first thyroidectomy . Biography . He was born in Root , New York , the son of Abraham Harris Vander Veer and Sarah Martin . After attending Union Free School , Palatine , and the Canajoharie Academy , he began to study medicine under the direction of Dr . Simeon Snow , of Currytown , New York , and later under Dr . John Swinburne , a physician and surgeon of renown in Albany . In 1861 he attended a full course of lectures at Albany Medical College , and in 1862 a second course at the National Medical College , medical department , Columbian University , now the George Washington University , from which he was graduated on December 23 , 1862 . In May 1862 , he enlisted in the United States Medical Corps , one of the original One Hundred Medical Cadets called to service by the Surgeon General of the United States army , they having studied medicine two years and attended one full course of lectures and passing a satisfactory examination , to act as interns in the military hospitals . After taking the examination he was assigned to Columbia College Hospital , and was soon informed by Dr . Crosby , surgeon - in - charge , that if they ( he and two or three other cadets ) would arise early and attend to all their dressings they could have from 2 to 8 in which to attend lectures , graduate , and get their diplomas . After passing a New York state examination he was commissioned in December , 1862 , assistant surgeon of the Sixty - sixth Regiment New York Volunteers , and ordered to join his regiment at Falmouth , Virginia . Soon after he was detailed as assistant to one of the chief operators at brigade hospital , Third Brigade , First Division , Second Army Corps , Army of the Potomac . In June 1864 , on the recommendation of every officer in the regiment , he was appointed by Surgeon - General Quackenbush and New York Governor Horatio Seymour , surgeon in charge of the regiment , with the rank of major . Soon after he was appointed one of the surgeons of the First Division Hospital , Second Army Corps , and placed in charge of an operating table . Here he gained his first actual experience in operative surgery that was henceforth to be his specialty . He was with his regiment in all their battles after the first Fredericksburg except Ream ' s Station , when ill , up to the surrender at Appomattox . At that historic event he had the pleasure of witnessing the meeting between General Ulysses S . Grant and General Robert E . Lee . He was mustered out of the service in September 1865 . After attending a full course of lectures at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of New York , he returned to Albany in May 1866 and entered upon the practice of his profession . He served as member and president of the Albany County Medical Society , the Medical Society of the State of New York the American Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists , and the American Medical Association ( AMA ) , becoming president of the AMA in 1915 . He was a delegate to the International Medical Congress , held at Copenhagen in 1884 , and was elected honorary president of the Fifteenth International Medical Congress held at Lisbon in 1906 , having been appointed one of the commissioners from the United States government . In July 1905 , he was elected president of the American Surgical Association , having been a fellow since 1882 , a member of the nominating committee , of the council , and twice president . In 1909 he was appointed by the United States government delegate to the International Medical Congress meeting at Budapest , but was unable to attend owing to the illness of his wife . He is the author of : as well as numerous articles in the leading medical journals at home and abroad . In 1867 he was attending surgeon to the Albany Hospital Dispensary as assistant to Dr . Alden March ; 1869 , attending surgeon ( with exception 1874 - 75 , while abroad studying ) until 1904 , when appointed surgeon - in - chief ; 1873 to 1903 , attending surgeon St . Peter ' s Hospital ; 1898 onward , attending surgeon South End Dispensary ; consulting surgeon New York State Hospital for Crippled and Ruptured Children , West Haverstraw , New York ; consulting surgeon Benedictine Hospital , Kingston , New York ; consulting surgeon Champlain Valley Hospital , Plattsburgh , New York . He always manifested the deepest interest in the Albany Medical College , where he listened to his first course of medical lectures . He filled the following important chairs in that institution : 1869 - 1874 , chair of general and special anatomy ; 1875 – 1882 , chair of didactic , abdominal and clinical surgery ; 1882 onward , chair of surgery ; dean from 1896 to 1904 . Dr . Vander Veer applied in Albany the first plaster of paris jacket for curvature of the spine ; performed the first Bigelow ' s operation for litholapaxy ; first Kernochan ' s operation for removal of infra orbital nerve and Meckel ' s ganglia , reporting a number of cases . In 1895 he was elected a regent of the University of the State of New York , serving for six years ; then by act of legislature the board was changed , he drawing the shortest period of one year ; re - elected in 1902 a third time for a full term , the first regent to be elected three times by the legislature . At the expiration of this term he was elected for a full term of twelve years , being the only instance of any regent being elected a fourth time . In 1915 he was elected vice - chancellor of the board . On May 27 , 1921 , he was elected chancellor , but by reason of impaired hearing , resigned on September 22 , 1921 . He was a trustee of the National Savings Bank many years ; resigning January 1 , 1910 ; trustee of Albany Cemetery Association , and president of the Holland Society of New York . While vice - president of the latter society he , with other members of Albany , entertained the officers of the " Van Speyk " when visiting this country , received from Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands the order and decoration of Oranje Nassau . He was a life member of the New York Historical Society . Through his own military service as an officer in the Civil War he became a companion of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion and Grand Army of the Republic . He was a member of Philip Livingston Chapter , Sons of the American Revolution , the Albany Institute and Historical and Art Society , and of Albany social clubs — Fort Orange and University . In his nearly fifty years of professional life Dr . Vander Veer received proof of the esteem in which he was held by his peers : Marriage / family . He married Margaret E . Snow ( September 1845 – March 24 , 1914 ) on June 5 , 1867 , a daughter of Dr . Simeon Snow and Mrs . Margaret Dievendorf Snow . They had six children , three of whom survived into adulthood and became doctors . His brother - in - law , Norman Snow , was also a doctor .