My great grandpa, Leo J Miltner, was an esteemed international surgeon and a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons—a professional association of surgeons who pass through rigorous qualifications. His story was very intriguing to me as I have a passion for science, and a great respect for his dedication. Leo was born in Solon, Iowa in 1901. He grew up, went to college, worked, and retired in Iowa. After completing medical school at the University of Iowa, Leo served as a member of the university’s orthopedic surgery staff for 5 years. He then became the third head orthopedic surgeon at the esteemed Peking Union Medical College (PUMC) in what is now Beijing, China.
PUMC was founded by the Rockefeller foundation to help spread western medicine and health care practices in China. While helping to ensure better health care in Beijing, the college and hospital helped to construct more positive U.S. and Chinese relations. Leo was the Orthopedic Chief from 1930 until 1937. Once he started his position, his fiancé, Jeanette “Pat” Holleran, traveled across the Pacific and the two got married in Kobe Japan. The two are to the left, together in Beijing China. Leo also wrote many professional papers on orthopedic surgery during his time in China, including “Bound Feet in China,” which was one of the first western accounts of the old Chinese tradition.
Leo met and befriended numerous people during his time as a head orthopedic surgeon the College. Roy Chapman Andrews, the finder of the first known dinosaur eggs; Captain Dave Shoup, General and Commandant of the United States Marine Corps; Owen Lattimore, Mongolian explorer and famous professor of Chinese studies at University of Leeds, were all common visitors to the College, and personal friends with Leo.
While the famous visitors to the hospital helped to expand the College’s popularity during Leo’s tenure, he also helped to expand western medicine throughout the rest of China. Before Leo came to leadership at PUMC, China was unfamiliar with modern medical styles, except for in the biggest of cities. Through Leo’s work and dedication, before he departed in 1937, there were 250 missionary hospitals—including 800 missionary doctors—scattered throughout China. Leo was also paramount in the deliverance of the first Iron Lung in the east. The picture above shows the College in its early stages, in the 1920s, from the Rockefeller Foundation.
In 1937, the Sino-Japanese war was developing, and the U.S. Government persuaded Americans to leave China and surrounding nations, for their own safety. The PUMC was shut down, and used primarily as a war hospital during the tumultuous late 1930’s and 1940s. Leo’s left a lasting impact on the health care practices in China. Leo’s memory is also left through being the namesake of his great-grandson—my cousin—Leo Kibler. Although Leo Miltner passed away in 1999, and I was never able to meet him, his hard work and dedication to his profession are qualities I hope I can embody in my future career.
Works Consulted
Picture of Mr. and Mrs. Leo J. Miltner came from family scrapbooks.
Picture of Peking Union Medical College came from Rockefellerfoundation.org
Miltner, Leo J. “Letter to the Editor.” The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, 1973 Jan; 55(1):213-214