Isaac Hays

Born in Philadelphia, Isaac Hays was one of ten children born to merchant Samuel Hays and Richea Gratz Hays, daughter of Miriam Simon and Michael Gratz. Graduating from University of Pennsylvania in 1812, Isaac briefly worked in the family firm, before deciding to pursue a career in medicine.

He returned to the University of Pennsylvania, entering medical school in1818. There he studied under Nathaniel Chapman, later the first president of the American Medical Association. Theirs was to prove a close and long-lasting association, with Isaac in the role of pupil, then apprentice and finally colleague.

Isaac came to specialize in ophthalmology, taking a post at McClellan’s Institution for Diseases of the Eye and Ear, the third ophthalmology hospital in the United States and then at the Pennsylvania Infirmary for Diseases of the Eye and Ear. He began publishing articles on ophthalmology, many of which became foundational in the field, including “Observations of the Inflammation of the Conjunctiva,” “Inflammations of the Sclera,” “The Pathology and Treatment of Iritis,” and “Diseases of the Cornea.” In 1830 he contributed the chapter “Diseases of the Eye” to the authoritative textbook Practice of Medicine.

In 1834 he married Sara Ann Minis of Savannah, Georgia, and the couple would have seven children.

That same year he took up a position at the newly established he Wills Hospital for the Relief of the Indigent Blind and Lame, where he would make some of his most important contributions to ophthalmology. He published the first study on non-congenital color blindness and reported on the first case of astigmatism in the United States. During his tenure at Wills, Isaac also designed a new tool for extracting cataracts. He had joined the editorial staff of the Philadelphia Journal of Medical and Physical Sciences, later the American Journal of Medical Sciences, in 1820, and after 1841 served as the editor-in-chief. In all, he devoted fifty-two years to the publication, before passing editorship to his son, I. Minis Hays. He took an active role in the American Philosophical Society, the Academy of Natural Sciences and was a founder of the American Medical Association.

Isaac Hays

c. 1865–1870