Dr. Work was born in Marion Center, Pennsylvania, graduated from the Indiana (PA.) State Normal School, and studied medicine at the University of Michigan (1882–84) and the University of Pennsylvania, receiving his M.D. in 1885. He established a medical practice in Greeley, CO, then moved to Pueblo, where he founded the Woodcroft Hospital (1896), the first private mental hospital in Colorado. He directed this facility until 1917.
During the 1880s and 1890s, Dr. Work was active in medical affairs, serving as President of the State Board of Health and the Colorado State Medical Society, a delegate to the American Medical Association (1906), Chairman of the House of Delegates (1916), and President of the AMA (1920). He served in the US Army during World War I, earning the rank of Colonel.
Dr. Work was a political activist, organizer, and member of the Republican National Committee (1913–19). He was appointed Postmaster General in 1922, under President Harding, and the following year as Secretary of the Interior, where he instituted many reforms. In 1928, he resigned as secretary and managed Herbert Hoover’s successful campaign for the presidency. He returned to Denver after President Hoover’s election in 1928 and practiced medicine again.
Dr. Work was President of the American Medico-Psychological Association (1911–12).