James Morrison Bodine, M.D. (1831-1915)

Eleventh Dean, 1867-1907

M.D., Kentucky School of Medicine, 1854

James M. Bodine, son of Dr. Alfred Bodine, was born in Fairfield, KY.  He attended Hanover College in Madison, IN, and obtained his M.D. at the age of 23.  He practiced for a year in Austin, Texas and then in Leavenworth, Kansas where he established the first hospital in Kansas and became president of the first medical society in the state.  He returned in 1863 to teach anatomy at the Kentucky School of Medicine, and in 1866 moved to the University of Louisville.

Dr. Bodine’s principal interest was ophthalmology, mastered largely by self instruction.  He initiaited the first series of eye lectures in 1871 and was ophthalmologist to the Blind School in Louisville.  In 1875, he was designated Professor of Anatomy and Operative Surgery of the Eye.

Dr. Bodine held the Deanship of the School for 40 years – through the 1883 flood, the tornado and terrible winter of 1893, and intense competition with five other local schools.  He contributed often to ophthalmic and educational literature.  He was a prime organizer of the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) in 1876 and was President of the Association in 1881 and 1896.  He received the LL.D. FROM Hanover College in 1893.  In 1907, at 76 years of age, he resigned as Dean, but a new position was created for Dr. Bodine:  President of the Medical Faculty.  He retired in 1910, at age 79, but held the title of President until his death in 1915.  His large ophthalmic library was given to the Medical School.