On this day in Alabama history: State medical association organized
Exhibition on display in the lobby of the Medical Association of the State of Alabama in Montgomery. (Photograph courtesy of the Medical Association of the State of Alabama)
December 1, 1847
The Medical Association of the State of Alabama was organized on this day in 1847 after a meeting of 21 physicians at the Waverly House in Mobile. The meeting was aimed at addressing concerns about a state medical licensure law passed in 1823. Alabama’s licensing standards were very lax, and many physicians were concerned about the level of skill possessed by some licensed doctors in the state. Members of the Alabama Medical Society (AMS), a local Selma organization, met and decided to call a statewide meeting of doctors. AMS secretary Dr. Albert Gallatin Mabry sent a letter to the president of the Mobile Medical Society to determine its members’ interest in such a meeting. Mabry called for the creation of a state medical society, modeled on those in Mississippi and Virginia, that could develop and enforce a code of ethics and work to improve medical education in the state. He also stressed the need for mental health facilities, which were virtually nonexistent in Alabama at the time. The Medical Association became the first statewide medical organization in Alabama. It was based in Selma in 1848 and in other cities in subsequent years. By 1893, its initial membership of 20 had increased to more than 1,000. In the 1890s, members of the Medical Association helped found the Birmingham Medical College. The Medical Association is currently headquartered at 19 South Jackson Street in Montgomery, and an administrative staff oversees its day-to-day operations.
Read more at Encyclopedia of Alabama.
For more on Alabama’s Bicentennial, visit Alabama 200.
