Avi Ohry
Tel Aviv, Israel

The American poet Emilie Chamberlin-Conklin-Warner is one of the few non-physicians who received a prize or citation from the American Medical Association (AMA). Her Religion Marches¹ is a collection of thoughtful, humorous, or sad poems about the life and work of physicians. Among them we find: “A Call to Service,” “Mountain Doctor,” “To a Great Physician,” “Accident Ward,” “Martyrs of Medicine,” and “Gland Therapy.” A year earlier her Doctors, I Salute,² made her famous on both sides of the Atlantic. She received an Honorary Certificate from the Royal College of Physicians of England, a prize from the AMA, and a prize from the American College of Physicians. She was also commissioned to write a dedication poem for the Albert Einstein Medical Center in North Philadelphia.

Her first husband, Oscar B. Conklin, was an agency field instructor for the insurance company Met Life. She met Dr. Max Thorek (1880–1960) from Chicago, a surgeon and author, and collaborated with him on his medical works. Dr. Thorek was one of the founding fathers of the International College of Surgeons in 1935 and in 1943 who wrote an autobiography entitled A Surgeon’s World. In 1946 he published in Acta Med Orientalia an article on the Holocaust: “To read, to weep, and to ponder.”³

Among Emilie’s other famous works was the book Songs in the Night and a novel on anthracite coal fields. She was born in Plains Township, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, and she died in Wyoming Valley Hospital at the age of 83. She was the widow of Dr. Stanley S. Warner.

References

1. Chamberlin-Conklin E. Religion Marches. Winona Lake, IN: Light and Life Press, 1939.
2. Chamberlin-Conklin E. Doctors, I Salute. Winona Lake, IN: Light and Life Press,1938.
3. Ohry A, González-López E. Es geht wohl anders [Things Turn Out Differently]. Isr Med Assoc J 2024;26(4):254-8.