{{Short description|American physician (1856-1938)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox person | name = Lawrence Flick | image = Lawrence Francis Flick (1856–1938).png | image_upright = | alt = | caption = | birth_name = Lawrence Francis Flick | birth_date = {{Birth date|1856|08|10}} | birth_place = Carrolltown, Pennsylvania | death_date = {{Death date and age|1938|07|07|1856|08|10}} | death_place = Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | burial_place = Old Saint Mary's Church | other_names = | spouse = {{Marriage|Ella Stone|1885|March 1934|end=d.}} | children = | occupation = Physician, writer | awards = Laetare Medal (1920) | education = {{Plainlist| * Saint Vincent College * Jefferson Medical College }} | party = | signature = Signature of Lawrence Francis Flick (1856–1938).png }}

'''Lawrence Francis Flick''' (1856–1938) was an American physician who pioneered research and treatment of tuberculosis. He was influential as an author, lecturer, and historian. He is a co-founder of the National Association for the Study and Prevention of Tuberculosis (American Lung Association) and was the first to advocate its formation as early as 1898.

== Biography == Flick was born August 10, 1856, on a farm near Carrolltown, Pennsylvania, to John Flick and Elizabeth Sharbaugh. His family had immigrated to Pennsylvania to avoid religious persecution in Strasbourg, France, following Prince Demetrius Augustine Gallitzin to Cambria County so that the family could freely practice their Catholic faith. He attended Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, and Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia. Graduating from medical school in 1879, he started a general practice in medicine. He started his specialization in tuberculosis treatment and research in Philadelphia in 1882. He married Ella Stone in 1885, and they had seven children.<ref name=Medalist>{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/100200096/lawrence-f-flick-1920-laetare-medalist/ |title=Lawrence F. Flick 1920 Laetare Medalist |newspaper=The Catholic Tribune |page=1 |date=1920-03-20 |access-date=2022-04-21 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref name=Dies>{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/58845937/lawrence-flick-obit/ |title=Dr. Flick Dies at 81 of Heart Ailment |newspaper=The Philadelphia Inquirer |page=7 |date=1938-07-08 |access-date=2022-04-21 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> A complete biography of Flick, including how his family came to America, how he entered the medical field and what led to the study of tuberculous, is contained in ''The Beloved Crusader'', a book written by his daughter Ella, who was a novelist in her own right.

In September 1890, he incorporated Rush Hospital for Consumption and Allied Diseases. He formed the Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Tuberculosis, the first organization of this type in the world, in 1892. He was one of the first people to theorize that TB was an airborne contagious disease, and not hereditary or a social scourge.<ref>{{Cite book |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jpBQSzoJPL4C&pg=PA18 |title=Bargaining for Life: A Social History of Tuberculosis, 1876–1938 |chapter=Flick and the Early Campaign Against Consumption |first=Bates |last=Barbara |author-link=Barbara Bates (doctor) |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |location=Philadelphia |isbn=9780812213676 |page=18 |year=1992 |access-date=2022-04-21 |via=Google Books}}</ref> In 1898, Dr. Flick first discussed the creation of a national association.<ref>{{Cite book |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jpBQSzoJPL4C&pg=PA128 |title=Bargaining for Life: A Social History of Tuberculosis, 1876–1938 |chapter=New Systems of Care |first=Bates |last=Barbara |author-link=Barbara Bates (doctor) |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |location=Philadelphia |isbn=9780812213676 |page=128 |year=1992 |access-date=2022-04-21 |via=Google Books}}</ref> The National Association for the Study and Prevention of Tuberculosis, which later became the American Lung Association, was formed in 1904. Flick chaired the second annual meeting in 1906 when the society adopted the double-barred Lorraine Cross as its symbol.

In 1901, he founded the White Haven Sanatorium for the treatment of tuberculosis; and served as its director until 1935. In the first year of operation, the sanatorium was visited by industrialist and philanthropist Henry Phipps Jr. In 1903 with a generous donation, Flick opened the Henry Phipps Institute for the Study, Treatment, and Prevention of Tuberculosis in Philadelphia. He served as its Director of the Institute until 1910 when it became part of the University of Pennsylvania.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofnationa00knopuoft/page/16/mode/1up |title=A History of the National Tuberculosis Association, The Anti-Tuberculosis Movement in the United States |first=Sigard Adolphus |last=Knopf |author-link=Sigard Adolphus Knopf |publisher=National Tuberculosis Association |location=New York City |page=16 |year=1922 |access-date=2022-04-21 |via=Internet Archive}}</ref>

He was one of the founders of the American Catholic Historical Society and served as its president from 1893 to 1896 and again from 1913 to 1914.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Past Presidents – American Catholic Historical Society|url=https://amchs.org/about-us/past-presidents/|access-date=2022-04-21|language=en-US}}</ref> He was a co-founder of the American Catholic Historical Association in 1919 and served as its first president in 1920.<ref>{{Cite web |title=ACHA Presidents |url=https://achahistory.org/about-old/presidents/ |publisher=American Catholic Historical Association |language=en-US |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201028205609/https://achahistory.org/about-old/presidents/ |archive-date=2020-10-28 |url-status=dead |access-date=2022-04-21}}</ref> Flick was the recipient of the Laetare Medal in 1920 from the University of Notre Dame.<ref name=Medalist/><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://archives.nd.edu/research/facts/laetare.html |title=Laetare Medal Recipients |publisher=University of Notre Dame |access-date=2022-04-21}}</ref> He considered this one of his greatest honors.{{Explain|date=March 2026}}

Flick died at his home in Philadelphia on July 7, 1938. He is buried with his family at Old Saint Mary's Church, 5th & Locust Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the cemetery in a family plot which sits along the wall of the Church.<ref name=Dies/>

== Legacy == The Pennsylvania State Lawrence Flick State Hospital operated in Cresson, Pennsylvania from 1956 to 1982.

In 1998 the Lawrence F. Flick Memorial Center opened in Philadelphia.<ref>{{Cite web |title=TB Control Program: News & Statistics |url=http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/TBPA/info.htm |access-date=2022-04-21 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Health System}}</ref> The facility is operated by the City of Philadelphia and the American Lung Association as a publicly funded tuberculosis clinic.

== See also == * American Lung Association * Henry Phipps Jr.

== References == <references />

== Further reading == * Flick, Ella. ''Beloved Crusader: Lawrence F. Flick, Physician''. Philadelphia: Dorrance, 1944. * Flick, Cecilia R. ''Dr. Lawrence F. Flick As I Knew Him''. Philadelphia: Dorrance, 1956.

== External links == * [https://libraries.catholic.edu/special-collections/archives/collections/finding-aids/finding-aids.html?file=flick Lawrence Francis Flick Papers] at the Catholic University of America

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Flick, Lawrence}} Category:1856 births Category:1938 deaths Category:19th-century Roman Catholics Category:20th-century Roman Catholics Category:American medical researchers Category:American Lung Association Category:American Roman Catholics Category:Catholics from Pennsylvania Category:Laetare Medal recipients