John Esten Cooke, M.D. (1783-1853)

Third Dean, 1841-42

M.D., University of Pennsylvania, 1805

Born in Boston, MA, John Esten Cooke began his medical studies under his father, Stephen Cook, a Virginia physician and a Surgeon in the Revolutionary War.

Dr. Cooke practiced medicine in Virginia for five years and then was called to the Chair of Theory and Practice of Medicine at Transylvania University , Lexington, KY in 1827.  His literary contributions included a widely accepted Treatise on Pathology and Therapeutics, 1828.  He and Charles W. Short, M.D. were co-editors of the first medical journal published in Kentucky, The Transylvania Journal of Medicine and Associate Sciences.  In 1829, Dr. Cooke underwent a religious conversion, leading to the publication of An Essay on the Invalidity of the Presbyterian Ordination.

During the summer of 1833 Lexington had a severe cholera epidemic.  Dr. Cooke gained legendary status during this time, administering to the victims large doses of calomel and making house calls night and day.  He emerged with a strengthened image of stern and fearless dedication.  In 1837 Cooke moved to Louisville and co-founded the Louisville Medical Institute with Charles Caldwell and L.P. Yandell.  He was forced to retire in 1844 due to growing disfavor with his unitary theory of pathogenesis.  He moved to a nearby farm and died of chronic pulmonary disease, a martyr to his own bloodletting and calomel purgatives.