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Mason, Michael L., 1895-1963

 Person

Biography

Michael Livingood Mason was born on April 23, 1895, in Rossville, Illinois, the son of Francis Marion and Katherine Elizabeth Mason.  Mason earned four degrees at Northwestern University: B.S. (Zoology) in 1916, M.A. (Zoology) in 1917, M.D. in 1924, and Ph.D. (Surgery) in 1931.

While a graduate student at Northwestern, Mason volunteered for military service as a member of the U.S. Base Hospital No. 12 in which he became sergeant first class in charge of orderlies.  In this capacity he saw overseas service in France during World War I.  In 1942 Dr. Mason, along with Dr. J. Roscoe Miller, was instrumental in reviving the Base Hospital No. 12, essentially a Northwestern military medical unit as General Hospital No. 12, which took the field in North Africa and Italy.  Mason, Chief of the Surgical Services, was discharged in 1946 with the rank of colonel.  In 1945 he was awarded the Legion of Merit and the Ordem Nacional Do Cruzeiro Do Sol of Brazil.

After taking his M.D., Mason held various teaching positions in anatomy and surgery at Northwestern's Medical School.  In 1931 he developed and performed a series of important experiments to elucidate the healing process in tendons.  Mason later expanded this work, which gained him a Ph.D. in surgery, into a major article coauthored by Harvey S. Allen.

Mason was involved in the editing of several medical journals including the Northwestern University Medical School Quarterly Bulletin, and Surgery, Gynecology, and Obstetrics, and was associated with a number of hospitals (he was chief of staff at Chicago's Passavant Hospital in 1951-52).  He was active in several surgical societies, among them the Chicago Surgical Society, the Western Surgical Association, the American College of Surgeons, the American Surgical Association, the American Society for Surgery of the Hand, the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma, the Central Surgical Association, and the Surgeon's Club.

On December 28, 1921, Mason married Alice Frances Kolb (Northwestern University B.A., 1917).  The couple had no children.  Dr. Mason suffered a serious cerebral injury in 1959 which confined him to a wheelchair for the rest of his life.  He died on March 30, 1963, at his home in Wood Dale, Illinois.

Found in 1 Collection or Record:

12th General Hospital Collection

 Collection
Identifier: ghsl-3
Abstract

The 12th General Hospital Collection is comprised of the papers of Michael L. Mason, James A. Conner, and Paul Raber who served as part of Northwestern University's 12th General Hospital Unit stationed in North Africa and Italy during World War II.

Dates: 1916-1988; Majority of material found within 1942-1945

Filtered By

  • Type: Collection X
  • Subject: World War, 1939-1945 X