William Smith (physician)

William Smith, who lived from 1862 to 1912, was a Scottish American physician and an early proponent of osteopathic medicine. Born in Jamaica, where his Scottish father worked as an engineer, he grew up in Scotland and trained in medicine at Edinburgh, finishing at the Royal College of Physicians. After limited success practising in Brooklyn, he travelled west and met Andrew Still in Missouri in June 1892. Having investigated Still's claims, he agreed to become the first anatomy professor at Still's new school and helped found several other osteopathic institutions. In 1893 he received the first doctor of osteopathy degree from that school, and in 1900 he briefly served as president of the Atlantic School of Osteopathy. He returned to Scotland in 1912 and died of pneumonia in Dundee.