Christian Fenger was a Danish-born surgeon, pathologist, and medical instructor.
12 Facts About Christian Fenger
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Christian Fenger gained experience as a surgeon during the Danish-Prussian War and Franco-Prussian War and received his MD in 1874.
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From 1875 to 1877, Christian Fenger worked in Egypt, where he studied trachoma and schistosomiasis.
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Christian Fenger eventually settled in Chicago, which had a prominent Scandinavian community.
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Christian Fenger was invited to perform some autopsies at Cook County Hospital, and soon joined that hospital's surgical staff with a distinguished record conducting experimental skin grafts.
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Christian Fenger worked there until 1893, while holding various teaching positions at the Chicago Medical College and the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Chicago.
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From 1893 to 1899, Christian Fenger worked as chair of surgery at the Chicago Medical College; he then became a professor of surgery at Rush Medical College.
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In Chicago, Christian Fenger helped demonstrate the bacterial origins of endocarditis and developed techniques for cleft palate repair, vaginal hysterectomy, and the relief of ureteral strictures.
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Christian Fenger became one of the first surgeons to remove an intramedullary tumor from the spinal cord.
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Christian Fenger performed thousands of autopsies, and used his knowledge of about twelve languages to keep abreast of medical literature.
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In 1901, Christian Fenger was named to the Order of the Dannebrog by the king of Denmark.
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Christian Fenger died of pneumonia at his home in Chicago on March 7,1902.