George W. Crile, M.D. (1864-1943)

George Washington Crile was born in 1864 at Chili, in Crawford Township, Coshocton County. Before embarking on his notable medical career, he graduated from Northwestern Ohio Normal School (now Ohio Northern University) at Ada, teaching for two years before becoming principal at Plainfield School. Crile first studied medicine under village physician Dr. A.E. Walker, who loaned him medical books and took him on calls to visit rural patients. Later in life Crile credited his early experience in education in Plainfield as one of the most influential points in his career. (continued on other side)

[Side B]: A pioneering surgeon and medical researcher of the early twentieth century, Dr. George Washington Crile graduated from Wooster University Medical School in 1887 and joined the college as a professor, a teaching role he continued throughout his life. He served in the Spanish-American War as an Army surgeon and brought clinical advances to the battlefields of World War I. An innovator in the field of surgery, he contributed greatly to the understanding of the role of shock in surgical physiology, including novel techniques in nerve-block anesthesia and blood transfusion. In 1921 he co-founded the Cleveland Clinic, serving as chief surgeon and president of the internationally acclaimed medical facility to the end of his career. Crile died in 1943.