Good Samaritan Hospital and its Department of Surgery is a major contribution to the literature of Cincinnati’s medical history. It is as interesting as it is informative. Dr. Scott Kelley’s fascinating profiles of the surgeons show why their work brought international recognition to the hospital.

The historical illustrations that Kelley collected offer remarkable insights into the hospital and its development.

Kentucky native Dr. Scott R. Kelley graduated in June 2011 from his five-year surgical residency at Good Samaritan Hospital. In addition to his fulltime-plus duties at the hospital, Kelley managed to research (using primary sources at Cincinnati Public Library, Sisters of Charity Motherhouse, and Good Samaritan Hospital) and write a history of Good Samaritan Hospital’s distinguished Department of Surgery.

In his preface to the book titled, Good Samaritan Hospital and its Department of Surgery, Dr. Kelley writes that in undergraduate college he became enamored of “reading, researching, and writing historical perspectives.” He was astounded when his research revealed many of the medical innovations pioneered by Good Samaritan Hospital’s Department of Surgery. Dr. Kelley recalls beginning research at libraries and archives and how “Weeks turned into months, months into years, paragraphs into pages, and photographs into historical accounts in themselves.” He decided it all should be preserved for future generations. Good Samaritan administrators agreed, awarding him an education grant to proceed with publication.