Edwin Sterling Munson, M.D., 1894
New York Medical College School of Medicine
Professor Emeritus of Ophthalmology, New York Medical College
(1870-1958)
Edwin Sterling Munson, M.D., graduated from New York Medical College in 1894 and went on to teach at the College, serve as Dean of the Flower-Fifth Avenue Hospital (when it was New York Ophthalmic Hospital), and practice ophthalmology at the Laura Franklin Free Hospital for Children. He attended Princeton University as an undergraduate.
After serving an internship at the Five Points House of Industry, a community center serving what was then one of New York most entrenched slums, Dr. Sterling Munson entered medical practice as an assistant, specializing in ophthalmology.
Dr. Munson was a member of the Seventh Regiment National Guard, New York at the outset of the First World War, serving for more than twenty years. He was cited for bravery when he operated a first-aid station under fire in the frontline trenches.
Dr. Munson earned an international reputation, and his name lives on in Munson's sign, a V-shaped indentation of the lower eyelid when the gaze is directed downwards, an indication that is characteristic of advanced keratoconus.