Jacob Mendes Da Costa

Jacob Mendez Da Costa (1833 – 1900) was an American physician.

Global eclectic traveler, fluent in German and French and able to read Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and Dutch.

Eponymously affiliated with Da Costa Syndrome (1871)

A teachers work does not die with him. It lives long after and may give great results.
Valedictory address, 1874.

Born February 7, 1833 St. Thomas, West Indies (Danish colony)
1837 – traveled with family for education in Europe (Dresden gymnasium)
1845-1852 – Studied medicine at Jefferson Medical College, USA
1852 – Returned to Europe working in Paris with Armand Trousseau (1801-1867), then on to work in Prague and Vienna
1853-1861 – Physician to the dispensary of Moyamensing House of Industry, but struggled in private practice and preferred to teach medical students. Exyensive teaching resulted in his very popular textbook ‘Medical Diagnosis‘ in 1864 (running to nine editions).
1861-1865 Acting Assistant Surgeon, Military Hospital in Philadelphia
1865 – Visiting Physician to the Pennsylvania Hospital
1866 – Chairman of Medicine, Jefferson Medical College
1872 – Professor of the Theory and Practice of Medicine, Jefferson Medical College
Died September 12, 1900

Da Costa JM. Medical diagnosis. Lippincott 1864.
Da Costa JM. On Irritable Heart; A Clinical Study of a Form of Functional Cardiac Disorder and Its Consequences. American Journal of the Medical Sciences 1871, 61: 17–52. [Da Costa Syndrome]
Da Costa JM. On strain and over-action of the heart. Toner lecture, delivered May 14, 1874
Da Costa JM. Professional aspirations: valedictory address to the graduating class of Jefferson Medical College of Philadelphia. 1891.
Da Costa JM. Biographical sketch of Dr. Austin Flint. Philadelphia: 1887

Wooley CF. Jacob Mendez DaCosta: medical teacher, clinician, and clinical investigator. Am J Cardiol. 1982 Nov;50(5):1145-8. [PMID 6753556]

eponym

the person behind the name