Hugh Huger Toland (April 16, 1806 – February 27, 1880) was an American
surgeon
In modern medicine, a surgeon is a medical professional who performs surgery. Although there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon usually is also a licensed physician or received the same medical training as ...
who founded the
Toland Medical College, which later became the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF).
He was one of the most successful surgeons in
California. He was from
South Carolina, and was active in San Francisco.
Biography
Hugh Huger Toland was born on April 16, 1806 in Guilder's Creek, Newberry County, South Carolina.
He was the fourth of ten children, his father was
planter John Toland (1776–1849), and his mother was Mary Boyd (
née
A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...
Spence) Toland (1778–1858).
Toland received his medical degree in 1828 from
Transylvania Medical College, in Lexington, Kentucky.
After practicing medicine in
Columbia, South Carolina, he arrived in
San Francisco with his wife in 1851.
In 1864 he established Toland Medical College, building a headquarters at the corner of Stockton and Francisco, across from the San Francisco City and County Hospital. Most of the faculty and students transferred from the earlier Cooper Medical College, which had closed after the death of its founder, Elias Samuel Cooper. The first class graduated in 1865. By 1870, the school had a class of thirty students and forty-five alumni.
That year, Toland sought to affiliate the school to the recently created
University of California. In March 1873, the school became the Medical Department of the University of California. Initially, he fought to keep his name in the institution, but he eventually gave in, feeling that a public institution should not bear the name of a private person.
Death and legacy
He died of a stroke at age 74,
in San Francisco. He was buried at
Laurel Hill Cemetery,
however his remains were moved to
Cypress Lawn Memorial Park,
Colma,
California by 1941.
The main lecture hall at
UCSF bears his name.
The same lecture hall features many murals, some depicting Hugh Toland himself. Brown and Toland Physicians, a Bay Area medical group, is named after Toland and
Charlotte Blake Brown
Charlotte Blake Brown (1846 – April 19, 1904) was an American physician. She was one of the first female doctors to practice on the West Coast of the United States and was a co-founder of the Pacific Dispensary for Women and Children, and San Fr ...
.
References
External links
Biography at UCSF
{{DEFAULTSORT:Toland, Hugh
University of California, San Francisco
1806 births
1880 deaths
People from Newberry County, South Carolina
Physicians from South Carolina
American surgeons
Transylvania University alumni