Politics And Medicine Though Thomas Sydenham is considered the father of modern medicine, the "English Hippocrates" scorned school and received an erratic education. Sydenham left Oxford twice to fight in England's Civil Wars on the parliamentary side along with the rest of his family, who also had strong political convictions. During the first Civil War, he met Thomas Coxe, a physician serving in the army, who inspired him to enter the profession. Sydenham became a doctor to reduce the suffering of mankind. He practiced medicine part-time from 1655 to 1659 while helping his brother William in politics. On this date in 1663, at the age of 38, Sydenham was licensed by the College of Physicians of London to practice medicine full-time in London. It wasn't until 1676, when he was 52 years old, that Sydenham received his Doctor of Medicine from Cambridge University.
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