Nationality American Alma mater A.T. Still University | Occupation Osteopathic physician Name S. Still | |
Born 7 December 1852 Macon County, Missouri Died 1931
Kirksville, Missouri Known for Founder of Des Moines University | ||
Summerfield Saunders Still (1851–1931) was an osteopath and founder of a school of osteopathy. Still and his wife Ella Daugherty married in 1891 and had two children, Persus (Percy) who became a surgeon, and Christina.
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Early life
Still was the son of James Still, a medical doctor trained in Chicago, Illinois, and Rahab Saunders Still. The Still family moved to Kansas, where S. S. Still was educated in Blue Mound, Eudora, and at Baker University at Baldwin.
Education
In 1893, he enrolled at the American School of Osteopathy (now the A.T. Still University) in Kirksville, which was founded by his uncle, Andrew Taylor Still, the developer of osteopathic medicine in the United States and the president of the school. In 1895, S. S. Still graduated with a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine, and then stayed at the school in Kirksville to teach. Still was considered an expert in anatomy. Still studied law at Drake University, receiving degrees in 1903 and 1904.
Founding a medical school
In 1898, after Iowa legalized the practice of osteopathy, Still and his wife Ella Daugherty Still, established an osteopathic medical school in Des Moines, the Dr. S. S. Still College of Osteopathy, the second such osteopathic school in the United States. Throughout its history, the school has been renamed several times and was renamed the Des Moines College of Osteopathy and Surgery in 1945, and in 1958 was renamed again to the Des Moines College of Osteopathic Medicine and Surgery. The College of Osteopathic Medicine and Surgery went on to become part of the University of Osteopathic Medicine and Health Sciences in 1981, and is now known as the Des Moines University College of Osteopathic Medicine.
In 1905, Still sold his interests in the school and devoted himself to private practice until 1913. He then became an anatomy professor at the Kirksville school and, after his son's accidental gunshot death in 1922, succeeded him as president of the facility, serving two years. From 1924 on, Still contributed a column to the Kirksville Graphic newspaper, with his last column published the day of his death. Dr. Still's body was brought back to Des Moines the following day for burial at Woodland Cemetery.