History of Surgery in Maine

The history of surgery, especially in New England, has been and continues to be inexorably linked to medical schools and teaching hospitals. There has not been a medical school in Maine for more than 80 years. Bowdoin Medical School, Brunswick, Me, founded in 1820, was the ninth in the United States. It foundered in 1920 on the shoals of the Carnegie-financed The Flexner Report. During its century of existence and for years after, this school played a major role in the medical and surgical affairs of the state of Maine, including its affiliation with the first teaching hospital in the state, the Maine General Hospital, founded in Portland in 1872, and the progenitor of the present-day Maine Medical Center.