Occupation British doctor Name William Saunders | Role Physician Died June 4, 1817 | |
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Born 1743 Banff, Scotland | ||
William Saunders (1743 – 4 June 1817) was a Scottish physician who was the first President of the Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society.
He was born in Banff, Scotland, the son of Banff doctor James Saunders and graduated MD from the University of Edinburgh in 1765.
He moved to London, where he first taught chemistry and pharmacy in private schools. In 1769 he was made a Licenciate of the Royal College of Physicians and in 1770 became a physician at Guy's Hospital, where he developed and delivered courses of medical lectures.
In 1790 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, to whom he delivered the Goulstonian Lecture of 1792 on diseases of the liver and the Harveian Oration of 1796. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1793 and was also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, a Fellow of the Anatomical Society and a member of the Geological Society.
He was a founding member of the Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society and in 1805 was elected their first President. In 1807 he was appointed Physician Extraordinaire to the Prince Regent. During his working life he published a number of works on a variety of medical subjects.
He retired in 1814 and died in Enfield, London on 4 June 1817.