Charles Hooker (physician)

Charles Hooker (March 22, 1799 – March 19, 1863) was a physician and a professor at the Yale School of Medicine.

He was son of William and Hannah Hooker, was a native of Berlin, Connecticut, and a descendant of Thomas Hooker, the first minister of Hartford, Connecticut.

He graduated from Yale College in 1820. He pursued his medical studies at Yale, where he graduated in 1823. He immediately began the practice of his profession in this city, which he followed with constancy and success, during a period of forty years.

Charles Hooker, posthumous portrait by Ulysses Dow Tenney in 1873[1]

In 1838, he was appointed Professor of Anatomy and Physiology in Yale College, and he discharged the duties of this post until his death, acting also as Dean of the medical faculty. He took an active part in public affairs related to his profession and was interested especially in the management of the Connecticut State Hospital, in which he was a Director and one of the attending physicians from the time of its foundation. He was the author of various medical essays, which were printed.

He was married in 1823 to Miss Eliza Beers.

He died in New Haven, March 19, 1863, aged 63 years.