University of Maryland School of Medicine and the VA Maryland Health Care System sponsor conference to examine the Father of the American Navy

John Paul Jones, born as John Paul in Scotland in 1747, is linked to the United States Navy's earliest traditions of heroism and victory. He first went to sea at age 13, became a captain at 21 and was a spectacularly successful officer during the American Revolution. Despite his naval prowess, Jones, the man who became the "Father of the U.S. Navy," experienced recurring health problems, beginning at age 26.

John Paul Jones is the subject of this year's Historical Clinicopathological Conference (CPC), sponsored by the University of Maryland School of Medicine and the Veterans Affairs (VA) Maryland Health Care System in Baltimore. This conference is devoted to the modern medical diagnosis of disorders that affected prominent historical figures.

The 2009 Historical CPC will be held on Friday, May 1, from 1:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m., in Davidge Hall (522 W. Lombard Street) at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore. More than 300 alumni, faculty members, students and local history buffs are expected to attend this event.

During the conference, naval historian Lori Lyn Bogle, Ph.D., associate professor of history at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, will trace Jones' successes and failures. Jones died in 1792, at age 45.

Medical history and autopsy

"What is fascinating is that after he died, Jones' body was stored in an alcohol-like substance. He was buried in an unmarked grave in Paris, and remarkably, the body was found," says CPC presenter, Matthew R. Weir, M.D., who is responsible for analyzing what likely caused Jones to die. Dr. Weir is a professor of medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and head of nephrology at the University of Maryland Medical Center. Dr. Weir says Jones' preservation made it possible for an autopsy to be performed 113 years after Jones died.

Dr. Weir reviewed Jones' medical records and the 1905 autopsy report. In 1792, officials said Jones died of "dropsy of the chest," old medical terminology that may have referred to the accumulation of fluids in the lungs.