Daniel Lewis

Daniel Lewis (January 17, 1846 – March 22, 1919) was an American physician who served as the first Commissioner of the New York State Department of Health. Life Lewis was born on January 17, 1846, in Alfred, New York, the son of Alfred Lewis and Lucy Langworthy. Lewis was attending Alfred Academy when the American Civil War started, and he served in the Union Navy from 1864 to 1865. After the War, he returned to his studies, graduating from Alfred University in 1869. He then attended a course in the New York University Medical School, followed by the College of Physicians and Surgeons. He graduated from the latter school in 1871. After practicing medicine in Andover for two years, he opened an office in New York City and became a prominent physician and surgeon in the city. When the New York Skin and Cancer Hospital opened, Lewis was made assistant surgeon and then visiting surgeon. In 1890, he was appointed chair of special surgery (cancerous diseases) of the New York Post-Graduate Medical School. He was also surgeon of the Brooklyn Trust Hospital, department of skin diseases and cancer. He joined the New York County Medical Society in 1873, and served on its board of assessors for five years, a delegate to the State Medical Society, president of the society from 1884 to 1885, and editor of its publication Medical Directory. In 1880, he was made a fellow of the New York Academy of Medicine and the New York Pathological Society. He was a member of the New York Dermatological Society. He was president of the Medical Society of the State of New York and the Physicians' Mutual Aid Association. He also spent time studying his speciality in the Cancer Hospital in London.