Thomas W. Salmon, M.D.

Dr. Salmon was born in Troy, New York, and received his M.D. in 1899 from Albany Medical College. In 1903, he joined the U.S. Public Health Service and studied mental illness in immigrants, and in 1915, Dr. Salmon became Medical Director for the National Committee on Hygiene, surveying mental institutions in over 30 states and advocating for improved care of the insane.

During WWI, Dr. Salmon served as Chief Consultant in Psychiatry to the U.S. Army in Europe and as a Professor of Psychiatry at Columbia University. After the war, he returned to the U.S., concerned for the continued care of veterans with psychiatric conditions. In 1919, the Surgeon General of the Public Health Service invited Dr. Salmon and four other outstanding neuropsychiatrists to develop a plan for hospitalized veterans who were diagnosed as mental and neurosis cases. The final report recommended special veteran hospitals.

Dr. Salmon was President of the American Psychiatric Association from 1923–24. He contributed to the psychiatric literature based on his research and experiences and left an imprint on the practice of military psychiatry.