Born on May 4, 1842, the fourth member of the Warren dynasty, John Collins-or "Coll"-Warren was also Harvard-educated, graduating from the College in 1863 and the Medical School in 1866. After completing his studies in Europe, he returned to Harvard Medical School, joining the faculty as an instructor in surgery in 1871. He became a full professor of surgery in 1893, then the first Moseley Professor of Surgery from 1899 until he was granted emeritus status in 1907. J. Collins Warren was a member of the staff of the Massachusetts General Hospital from 1869 to 1905 and was then on the hospital's Board of Consultation from 1905 until his death on November 3, 1927.

Like his grandfather, Dr. Warren's principal area of research and expertise was the surgical treatment of tumors. He published extensively on this subject, specializing in surgical treatments for breast cancer. He developed a particular model of dissection knife for use with tumors of the breast and had it produced by Codman and Shurtleff, the famous Boston firm of instrument makers.

For nearly a quarter of a century, he was the chairman of the Cancer Commission of Harvard University and was instrumental in raising funds for the construction of the Collis P. Huntingdon Memorial Hospital for Cancer Research. The Longwood campus remains Dr. Warren's most enduring memorial at Harvard Medical School, as he and Dr. Henry Pickering Bowditch together were the driving force for raising donations for the construction of the Quad facilities and encouraging local hospitals to remove to the new medical area.

]]> One of the most renowned American surgeons of the 19th century, Dr. John Collins Warren (born on August 1, 1778) graduated from Harvard College in 1797, then began the study of medicine with his father, Dr. John Warren. In 1799, he went abroad, continuing his medical studies in London and Paris, working with such luminaries as the pioneer anatomist Sir Astley Cooper (1768-1841). He received an honorary medical degree from Harvard in 1819.

On his return to America in 1802, Dr. John Collins Warren entered into partnership with his father and also began to assist him with anatomical lectures, dissections, and demonstrations at Harvard Medical School. He was named Adjunct Professor of Anatomy and Surgery in 1809, then, at his father's death, assumed the Hersey Professorship of Anatomy and Surgery. He held that post until he was granted professor emeritus status in 1847. Dr. Warren was also the first dean of the Medical School and promoted its removal from Cambridge to Boston to obtain better access to clinical facilities. Over the course of his long career, he assembled an extraordinary teaching collection of anatomical and pathological specimens. He presented it to the Harvard Corporation in 1847 along with $5000. This was the beginning of the Warren Anatomical Museum.

]]> Just as his great-grandfather had been instrumental in establishing the Harvard Medical School in the eighteenth century, so Dr. J. Collins Warren provided the impetus for the construction of the buildings of the Quad at the beginning of the twentieth. With Dr. Henry P. Bowditch, J. Collins Warren developed plans for the Longwood campus, persuaded hospitals to relocate to the area, and obtained funds from John Pierpont Morgan, John D. Rockefeller, Jr., and Mrs. Collis P. Huntingdon to make the new facilities a reality.

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