Weller Van Hook
Early years
Medical career
Northwestern Medical School lists Dr. Van Hook as Professor of Surgery 1896-1908, and chairman of the Department of Surgery 1899-1908.[1]
When he joined the medical faculty in 1896, the school had been making admission requirements more rigorous, but soon that academic objective came into conflict with the administration's desire to increase matriculation, which exceeded 600 in 1902-03. Bayard Holmes wrote: "Van Hook went to Northwestern [in 1896] where his enthusiasm was slowly drowned out by the economic and pedantic exploitation of the splendid foundation laid so patiently and devotedly by [early founders],"<ref>Leslie B. Arey, Northwestern University Medical School 1859-1979, Galter Health Sciences Library Web page accessed April 9, 2012 at [2]. See page 159.