Joseph Cochran

Joseph Plumb Cochran

Joseph Plumb Cochran M.D. (Born January 14, 1855 in Urmia , Iran , † August 18, 1905 in Urmia, Iran) was an American Presbyterian missionary and medic. He is considered to be the founding father of the first modern medical college in Iran.

Life

Joseph Cochran's parents were Reverend Joseph J. Cochran and Deborah Plum. They belonged to the first generation of missionaries who traveled to Iran in 1848. They settled in Urmia in western Azerbaijan , Iran, home of the historical Urartu culture and one of the earliest Christian churches, the Assyrian Church of the East . The family devoted their missionary zeal to the welfare of the local population, many of whom were devout Christians.

Joseph was one of eight children in the Cochran family. He had a happy childhood among his large family and friends. He learned the national languages Syrian , Azerbaijani and Kurdish , in addition to English and Persian . As a teenager, he left Iran in 1868 and traveled to the United States to stay with relatives of his family. He studied medicine at New York Medical College , where he graduated in 1876. He then gained two years of practical experience in surgery , infectious diseases and gynecology at hospitals . During a trip to Minnesota he met his future wife Katherine Hale.

The young couple traveled to Iran in 1878. Upon arriving in Urmia, they checked the medical and health needs of the local society and found an inadequate small clinic under the auspices of the Iranian Red Lion and Red Sun Society . At Joseph's request, the Assyrian Missionaries' Committee purchased 15 hectares of gardens that became the building site for a 200-bed hospital. The hospital was named Westminster Hospital . The construction of the hospital was completed within a year - from planning to opening in 1879.

Joseph Cochran with the Kurdish tribal leader Sheikh Ubeydallah , around 1880

Cochran was determined to address the shortage of local medical professionals by founding a modern medical school, the first of its kind in Iran. In order to achieve this goal, he built a wooden building, which was equipped with a research laboratory, near the hospital, where future medical staff were trained. Remarkably, this wooden building, near what is now Urmia Medical School, is still preserved today. An adjoining obstetrics clinic was later established, and the medical equipment required for this came from America.

According to the information on the official website of Urmia University , Joseph Cochran was the first director of Urmia Medical School, founded in 1878. During the 27 years that Cochran served as director, 26 medical students graduated here. The school closed after Cochran's death in 1905 and did not reopen until six years later as one of several Urmia University schools. The Urmia University Historical Archives hold documents showing the signature of Mozaffar ad-Din Shah and Joseph Cochran on the graduate student certificates for the 1898 gaduation ceremony.

During this period, Joseph Cochran also joined other American medical professionals, such as Dr. Wright, Dr. Homlz, Dr van Norden and Dr. Miller, who stayed in Iran permanently. The full names of these doctors are not known. Their resting places are in Urmia.

Joseph Cochran died in Urmia at the age of 50, on the second floor of the wooden building of the Medical School. His death was mourned by many. More than 10,000 mourners attended his funeral, according to reports. He was buried in the Assyrian Missionary Cemetery , next to Seer Mountain in Urmia, within sight of the Medical School he founded, near the resting places of his wife Catherine and his parents. His grave inscription reads: " He came not to be ministered unto, but to minister. "

His son Joseph P. Cochran, Jr. returned to Iran in 1920 and followed in his father's footsteps through his service at the American Mission Hospital. His daughter Dorothy Cochran-Romson served briefly as a missionary sister in Tabriz , the capital of the province of East Azerbaijan .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ " Not so shall it be among you: but whosoever would become great among you shall be your minister; and whosoever would be first among you shall be your servant: even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister , and to give his life a ransom for many. "(Matthew 20: 26-28).

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• Esmail Yourdshahian, Farrokh Ghavam, Mohhamad-Hassan Ansari, Life of Dr. Joseph Plumb Cochran, Founder of Iran's First Contemporary Medical College, Archives of Iranian Medicine, Academy of Medical Sciences, Islamic Republic of Iran, Vol. 5 , No. 2 (April 2002). [1]
• Robert E. Speer, "The Hakim Sahib," The Foreign Doctor. A biography of Joseph Plumb Cochran, MD, of Persia , Illustrated (Fleming H. Revell Company, New York, 1911). Can be freely downloaded from Internet Archive .
  Contents: I. Ancestry. II. The Mission to the Nestorians. III. His Missionary Parentage. VI. Boyhood and Education. V. Beginning Work in Persia. VI. Famine and Relief. VII. The Kurdish Invasion. VIII. Old Foes and New Friends. IX. The Remainder of His First Term of Service and His First Furlough. X. "In Journeyings Often". XI. "In Much Steadfastness". XII. His Last Visit to America and Return to Persia. XIII. The Closing Years of Work. XIV. "To Faithful Warriors Comes the Rest". XV. As a peace maker and diplomatist. XVI. As a Medical Missionary. XVII. As a Christian Man.

Web links

• Urmia University website
• Urmia University of Medical Sciences