Valentine Seaman

Valentine Seaman (April 2, 1770 – July 3, 1817) was an American physician who introduced the smallpox vaccine to the United States and mapped yellow fever in New York City. His contributions to public health also include women's education in nursing and midwifery. Early life and education Seaman was born in 1770 in New York. His family were Quakers. His father, Willet Seaman, was a descendant of Captain John Seaman, who sailed to North America from Brightlington, England, in 1620, settling thereafter in Hempstead, Long Island. Seaman began his studies in medicine in New York under Nicholas Romayne, one of the founders of Columbia University's College of Physicians and Surgeons. He earned his M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1792, studying under Benjamin Rush and Adam Kuhn and writing a dissertation on opium use. He settled in New York City on Beekman Street with his wife and 10 children.