Rufus I. Cole, M.D.
Brief Bio
Rufus Ivory Cole (1872–1966) was the seventh president of the American Association of Immunologists, serving from 1920 to 1921. He was the first director of the Hospital of the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research, a position he held from 1908 to 1937.
Cole received his M.D. from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 1899. He remained at the Johns Hopkins Hospital until 1909, advancing from resident house officer to assistant resident to associate in medicine. He took a leave of absence for the 1903–1904 year, during which he was a visiting assistant at the Robert Koch Institute for Infectious Diseases in Berlin. He was appointed the director of the Rockefeller Hospital in 1908, although the hospital did not open until two years later. To prepare for the opening, Cole spent 1909 touring clinics in Europe. He remained in charge of the hospital until 1937, when he stepped down at the Rockefeller Institute’s mandatory retirement age of 65.
AAI Service History
Joined: 1917
President: 1920–1921
Councillor: 1918–1920, 1921–1925
The Journal of Immunology
Board of Editors: 1916–1935
Awards and Honors
- Member, National Academy of Sciences, 1922
- Member, American Academy of Arts & Sciences, 1923
- George M. Kober Medal, Association of American Physicians,1938
- Medal for Distinguished Contributions in Biomedical Science, New York Academy of Medicine, 1963
- Jessie Stevenson Kovalenko Medal, National Academy of Sciences, 1966
Institutional/Biographical Links