Joseph Plumb Cochran,

M.D. Doctor of Medicine (abbreviated M.D., from the Latin ''Medicinae Doctor'') is a medical degree, the meaning of which varies between different jurisdictions. In the United States, and some other countries, the M.D. denotes a professional degree. T ...

(January 14, 1855 – August 18, 1905), was an American

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...

missionary and medical doctor. He is credited as the founding father of

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

's first modern Western medical school, Westminster College (now

Urmia University Urmia University (, ''Danushgah-e Arumih''; ) (also known as the University of Urmia) is a public university in West Azarbaijan province, Iran. The main campus of Urmia University is in Nazlu (or Nazloo), in the vicinity of Urmia. It has six c ...

) in 1879.

Early life

Joseph Plumb Cochran was one of the eight children of Cochran's family, he was born in 1855 in

Urmia Urmia or Orumiyeh ( fa, ارومیه, Variously transliterated as ''Oroumieh'', ''Oroumiyeh'', ''Orūmīyeh'' and ''Urūmiyeh''.) is the largest city in West Azerbaijan Province of Iran and the capital of Urmia County. It is situated at an alt ...

Qajar Iran Qajar Iran (), also referred to as Qajar Persia, the Qajar Empire, '. Sublime State of Persia, officially the Sublime State of Iran ( fa, دولت علیّه ایران ') and also known then as the Guarded Domains of Iran ( fa, ممالک م ...

. He had a happy childhood in the company of his large family and friends. He learned the local languages of

Assyrian Assyrian may refer to: * Assyrian people, the indigenous ethnic group of Mesopotamia. * Assyria, a major Mesopotamian kingdom and empire. ** Early Assyrian Period ** Old Assyrian Period ** Middle Assyrian Empire ** Neo-Assyrian Empire * Assyrian ...

, Azerbaijani and

Kurdish Kurdish may refer to: *Kurds or Kurdish people *Kurdish languages *Kurdish alphabets *Kurdistan, the land of the Kurdish people which includes: **Southern Kurdistan **Eastern Kurdistan **Northern Kurdistan **Western Kurdistan See also * Kurd (dis ...

, in addition to

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

and

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

. Joseph Cochran's father was the Reverend Joseph Gallup Cochran (1817–1871), and his mother, Deborah Wilson Plumb (1820–1893). His parents were first-generation American missionaries sponsored by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM), who traveled to Iran and arrived in June 1848. They settled in Urmia and nearby village of Seer in West Azerbaijan Province, Qajar Iran; the home to the people of the ancient culture of

Urartu Urartu (; Assyrian: ',Eberhard Schrader, ''The Cuneiform inscriptions and the Old Testament'' (1885), p. 65. Babylonian: ''Urashtu'', he, אֲרָרָט ''Ararat'') is a geographical region and Iron Age kingdom also known as the Kingdom of Va ...

and of one of the earliest Christian churches, the

Assyrian Church of the East The Assyrian Church of the East,, ar, كنيسة المشرق الآشورية sometimes called Church of the East, officially the Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East,; ar, كنيسة المشرق الآشورية الرسول� ...

. The family devoted their missionary zeal to the well-being of the local population, many of whom were devout Christians.

Education

He left for

America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

as a teenager in 1868, staying in Buffalo,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

with the family of Stephen Mallory Clement (1825–1892), the father of Stephen Merrell Clement, who was to help finance not only Joseph Cochran's education, but also his hospital. He studied medicine at

New York Medical College New York Medical College (NYMC or New York Med) is a private medical school in Valhalla, New York. Founded in 1860, it is a member of the Touro College and University System. NYMC offers advanced degrees through its three schools: the School o ...

, from where he graduated in 1876. Subsequently, he did two years of practical hospital work in

surgery Surgery ''cheirourgikē'' (composed of χείρ, "hand", and ἔργον, "work"), via la, chirurgiae, meaning "hand work". is a medical specialty that uses operative manual and instrumental techniques on a person to investigate or treat a pat ...

infectious diseases An infection is the invasion of tissues by pathogens, their multiplication, and the reaction of host tissues to the infectious agent and the toxins they produce. An infectious disease, also known as a transmissible disease or communicable dise ...

and

gynecology Gynaecology or gynecology (see spelling differences) is the area of medicine that involves the treatment of women's diseases, especially those of the reproductive organs. It is often paired with the field of obstetrics, forming the combined are ...

. During a travel to

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

he met his future wife, Katherine Talcott Hale.

Medical career in Urmia

He was assigned by the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions as a missionary physician to Persia and returned to Urmia with his wife. The young couple went to Urmia, Iran in 1878. On Joseph's earnest request, and with funding from congregation members of the Westminster Church of Buffalo and the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions (operated by the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America; PCUSA) a 15-acre lot of land was purchased which became the site of Iran's first medical college, as well as missionary residences, and eventually a college. The 100-bed hospital was named ''Westminster Hospital'', after the church in Buffalo, New York that was the vehicle for supporting Cochran's work. The building of this hospital was completed in 1882. Cochran resolved the problem of shortage in the local medical professionals by establishing a modern medical school, ''Westminster College'' (1879–1915), the first of its kind in Iran. For this purpose, he erected a wooden building, which included a research laboratory, near the hospital, where the future medical personnel were to be trained. Remarkably, this original wooden building, near the present-day Urmia Medical School, is still intact. An adjoining maternity hospital was built later, for which the required medical equipment arrived from America. According to the information provided by the official website of

, Joseph Cochran has been

he first He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...

director of the Medical School in Urmia, established in 1878. In the course of Cochran's 27 years of directorship, 26 medical students graduated from this school. This school was closed on Joseph Cochran's death in 1905 and remained in this state until sixty years later when it was opened as one of several Schools of Urmia University. The historical archives of Urmia University is in the possession of documents that show that Mozaffar al-Din Shah Qajar and Joseph Cochran have personally signed and handed certificates to graduating students during the graduation ceremony of 1898 (1277 AH). Cochran Grave

During the above-mentioned period, Cochran was joined by other American medical doctors, including Dr Wright, Dr Homlz, Thomas Langdon van Norden, and Emma T. Miller, who remained permanently in Iran.

Death and legacy

Joseph Cochran died of

Typhoid fever Typhoid fever, also known as typhoid, is a disease caused by '' Salmonella'' serotype Typhi bacteria. Symptoms vary from mild to severe, and usually begin six to 30 days after exposure. Often there is a gradual onset of a high fever over several ...

in Urmia at the age of 50, on 18 August 1905, on the second floor of his wooden house in the medical school. His death was mourned by many. According to reports, his funeral was attended by tens of thousands people. His resting place is in the American Mission Graveyard in the village of Seer, located on the side of ''Seer Mountain'' (sometimes spelled as Sir or Seir), where deceased American missionaries and their families were laid to rest. His

epitaph An epitaph (; ) is a short text honoring a deceased person. Strictly speaking, it refers to text that is inscribed on a tombstone or plaque, but it may also be used in a figurative sense. Some epitaphs are specified by the person themselves be ...

reads: "''He came not to be ministered unto, but to minister.''" "''Not so shall it be among you: but whosoever would become great among you shall be your minister; and whosoever would be first among you shall be your servant: even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.''" (Matthew 20:26-28). His son, Joseph Cochran, Jr, returning to Iran in 1920, followed in his father's footsteps through his services in the American Mission Hospital. His daughter, Dorothy Cochran-Romson, served for a short time as a missionary nurse in

Tabriz Tabriz ( fa, تبریز ; ) is a city in northwestern Iran, serving as the capital of East Azerbaijan Province. It is the List of largest cities of Iran, sixth-most-populous city in Iran. In the Quri Chay, Quru River valley in Iran's historic Aze ...

capital East Azerbaijan Province in Iran.

Notes

References

*Esmail Yourdshahian, Farrokh Ghavam, Mohhamad-Hassan Ansari,
Life of Dr. Joseph Plumb Cochran, Founder of Iran's First Contemporary Medical College
'' Archives of Iranian Medicine, Academy of Medical Sciences, Islamic Republic of Iran, Vol. 5, No. 2 (April 2002). *Robert E. Speer, '' "The Hakim Sahib", The Foreign Doctor. A biography of Joseph Plumb Cochran, M.D., of Persia'', Illustrated (Fleming H. Revell Company, New York, 1911). * Hooman Estelami, ''The Americans of Urumia: Iran's First Americans and their Mission to the Assyrian Christians'' (Bahar Books, LLC) 2021

External links

Urmia University websiteUrmia University of Medical Sciences
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cochran, Joseph 1855 births 1905 deaths American Presbyterian missionaries Presbyterian missionaries in Iran American expatriates in Iran University and college founders New York Medical College alumni Presidents of Urmia University Christian medical missionaries Missionary educators Educators from New York (state) 19th-century American educators