Hospital chemist James L. Stoddard was the first person to direct this laboratory when it moved to this space in 1925. He did some of the roles that a pathologist would do today. The hospital had first hired a Chemist and Microscopist in 1847, recognizing the growing importance of chemical and pathological science in clinical practice. The more specialized role of Chemist was created in 1896, shortly after the hospital’s Clinico-Pathological Laboratory building was built. Stoddard’s predecessor as Chemist, Otto Folin, did not work primarily at Mass General, but “supervised” the laboratory, while the Assistant Chemist Wiley Denis did work onsite. Working at MGH from 1913 to 1920, Denis was the first woman on the professional staff of the hospital.

Pictured is a microscope from 1934.