Samuel Powel Griffiths (435)

Samuel Powel Grifitts (21 July 1759—12 May 1826) was a physician, professor, and Member of the American Philosophical Society elected in 1785.  Born into a Quaker family in Philadelphia, Grifitts became a student at the College of Philadelphia in 1776. He was in line to graduate in 1779, but the British occupation of Philadelphia resulted in the school losing its charter and the students had to wait for the University of Pennsylvania to step in and grant their degrees in 1780. Undeterred by the delayed graduation, Grifitts immediately began a focused study of medicine under the tutelage of Dr. Adam Kuhn, and upon completion of his medical degree in 1781 he traveled to Paris, London and Edinburgh to round out his education. Returning to Philadelphia in 1784, he established his own practice and began a lifelong commitment to public service, joining the Humane Society, the Pennsylvania Abolitionist Society and assisted in the founding of the nation's first charity clinic, the Philadelphia Dispensary.  In 1792, he was elected Professor of Materia Medica at the University of Pennsylvania and held this position for four years before resigning it to Benjamin Smith Barton. Grifitts continued practicing medicine and serving the community for the remainder of his life until succumbing to a sudden illness in 1826. He had seven children through his marriage to Mary Fishbourne, daughter of Philadelphia Mayor William Fishbourne. His cousin Samuel Powel also served as Mayor of Philadelphia and was a Member of the American Philosophical Society.