Andrew Taylor Still - the founder of osteopathic medicine - was inducted into the Hall of Famous Missourians Wednesday at the state Capitol.
"It's really remarkable how much impact this Missourian has had not only on the state, but globally," House Speaker Tim Jones said. "Truly, without a doubt a very famous Missourian who very much deserves to be in the hall."
More than 13,000 Missourians voted last year to induct a new member into the Hall of Famous Missourians. Still was the winner among 10 candidates.
A sculpture of his bust was also unveiled Wednesday - a day coined as Missouri's Osteopathic Medicine Awareness Day. The bust was created by Brandon Crandall, a freelance artist and 2006 graduate of the University of Missouri.
Still was born Aug. 6, 1828, in Lee County, Va. He grew up with nature and later developed osteopathic medicine, which takes a holistic approach to medicine, focusing on an individual as a whole - mind, body and spirit.
In 1892, Still founded the first school of osteopathic medicine in Kirksville, now known as A.T. Still University.
"The first osteopathic class had a modest 17 members with 12 men and five women," said Henry Petry, an osteopathic physician with the Missouri Association of Osteopathic Physicians and Surgeons. "Over the years, the profession has grown to include more than 83,000 physicians in osteopathic medicine nationwide, with more than 2,500 licensed in the state of Missouri.
"I'm proud to be a D.O. (doctor of osteopathy) and proud to be part of history today as Dr. Andrew Taylor Still gets some much deserved recognition for the contribution he made to the medical field."
Still wasn't the only one in his family to blaze the trail in osteopathic medicine.
In 1951, his son, Charles E. Still was one of several physicians to found the Charles E. Still Osteopathic Hospital in the Capital City. In 1990, it became Still Regional Medical Center and in 1994 it merged with Jefferson City's Memorial Community Hospital and became what is now Capital Region Medical Center.
"I think it's a great day for Capital Region Medical Center having been founded by an osteopathic physician and built and based on osteopathic philosophies," Dr. Wanda Wilson said of Andrew Taylor Still's induction.
Wilson is an osteopathic physician affiliated with Capital Region Medical Center.