1785-1852

American physician and medical geographer who founded the Ohio Medical College. In the early 1800s Drake traveled through the interior of the United States, gathering data on the customs, diet, and diseases of people living on the frontier. His research culminated in the most important work on malaria published to that time, A Systematic Treatise . . . on the Principal Diseases of the Interior Valley of North America. In 1819 Drake founded the Ohio Medical College (now the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine) based on his belief in the importance of providing medical students with a hospital-based education.