Official website for the new book by David Alan Johnson
diploma mill
A true story of fraud and deception at the birth of the American medical profession
and the intersection of medical education and licensing
About the author
As senior vice president for assessment at the Federation of State Medical Boards, I have enjoyed opportunities to draw upon my undergraduate and graduate degrees in history from the University of Texas-Arlington. My research and writings on various aspects of medical regulation in the United States have appeared in Academic Medicine, Annals of Internal Medicine, Bulletin of the History of Medicine, JAMA, Journal of Continuing Education in the Health Professions, Journal of Medical Regulation, etc.
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My research into late 19th and early 20th century medical diploma mills has concluded with my article on the Missouri medical diploma mills published in Social History of Medicine. (Oct 2018 ahead of print)
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My current areas of research focus on licensing examinations and medical discipline. I regularly share my reflections on these and other topics in the history of medical regulation at my blog listed at the bottom of this page or accessed here at https://armchairhistorian.blog/
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IN THE PRESS
Praise for Diploma Mill
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"...a scholarly gem and a fun read. Johnson has managed to ferret out the story of a master medical charlatan, and that story contains twists and turns: crimes, legal battles, a fake suicide and an international manhunt; they're all here. Medical historians...and general readers will find this a delightfully bizarre tale...."
JAMES C. MOHR, PhD
University of Oregon
future Events
The Armchair Historian
My blog with reflections on the history of medical regulation
One of my recent blog posts tell a century old story of a physician imposter named Phillip Dyment. "Dr" Dyment used a ringer or proxy to take his licensing examination for him in Georgia.
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Later, after relocating to California and having seeing his fraud exposed, Dyment waged a successful legal battle to salvage his medical license.