Overview
Modern American medicine was fundamentally shaped by the Flexner Report of 1910, a study funded by the Carnegie Foundation and influenced by Rockefeller interests. This report led to the closure of approximately half of all medical schools in the United States and the virtual elimination of natural medicine, homeopathy, chiropractic, and other alternative approaches from mainstream medical education.
The Rockefeller family, having made their fortune in oil, had a financial interest in promoting petroleum-based pharmaceutical medicine. By funding medical schools and research that aligned with drug-based treatment, they helped create a medical system centered on patentable synthetic compounds rather than natural remedies that could not be monopolized.
This transformation of American medicine is documented in historical records and remains foundational to understanding why modern medicine focuses overwhelmingly on pharmaceutical intervention rather than nutrition, lifestyle, or natural approaches.
"The Rockefeller Foundation and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching... sought to create a medical monopoly that would eventually eliminate competition from natural medicine schools and practitioners."
- Medical History Analysis
The Flexner Report
The Flexner Report, officially titled "Medical Education in the United States and Canada," was published in 1910 by the Carnegie Foundation. Its author, Abraham Flexner, was not a doctor but an educator with ties to the Rockefeller-funded General Education Board.
Background
- In 1910, there were approximately 160 medical schools in the U.S.
- These included allopathic (drug-based), homeopathic, eclectic, naturopathic, and osteopathic schools
- Medical practice was diverse - no single approach dominated
- Natural remedies, herbs, and traditional medicines were widely used
What the Report Did
- Evaluated every medical school in North America
- Established standards that favored laboratory-based, drug-oriented medicine
- Rated schools not teaching this model as "inadequate"
- Recommended closing schools that didn't meet the new standards
- Called for reduction from 160 schools to 31
The Results
Allopathic Schools
Favored by Report
Schools teaching drug-based medicine received favorable ratings and Rockefeller funding. They became the standard for "legitimate" medicine.
Homeopathic Schools
Virtually Eliminated
22 homeopathic schools existed in 1900. By 1923, only 2 remained. Homeopathy was marginalized in American medicine.
Eclectic Schools
Closed
Eclectic medicine, which used herbs and natural treatments, was eliminated. All eclectic schools eventually closed.
Black Medical Schools
Decimated
Of 7 Black medical schools, 5 were closed after the report. Only Howard and Meharry survived.
Schools Closed
Within 20 years of the Flexner Report, the number of medical schools dropped from 160 to 76. By the 1930s, alternative medicine was virtually eliminated from American medical education.
The Rockefeller Interest
The Rockefeller family's involvement in reshaping American medicine was not coincidental - it aligned with their business interests in oil and petrochemicals.
Oil to Pharmaceuticals
- John D. Rockefeller built Standard Oil, becoming the richest man in America
- Petrochemicals became the basis for synthetic pharmaceutical drugs
- Unlike herbs and natural compounds, synthetic drugs could be patented
- Patented drugs create monopoly profits; natural medicines do not
- The Rockefeller Foundation funded medical schools teaching drug-based medicine
Funding Strategy
Rockefeller Institute Founded
The Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research (now Rockefeller University) established to fund drug-based medical research.
General Education Board
Rockefeller creates the General Education Board, which would fund medical schools teaching the pharmaceutical model.
Flexner Report Published
Carnegie Foundation publishes the report. Abraham Flexner had connections to Rockefeller's General Education Board.
Massive Funding Campaign
Rockefeller and Carnegie foundations pour hundreds of millions into medical schools teaching drug-based medicine. Schools refusing this model receive no funding.
Rockefeller Foundation Created
The Rockefeller Foundation established, continuing massive funding of pharmaceutical-oriented medicine.
"I want to own nothing and control everything."
- John D. Rockefeller Sr.
AMA Alliance
The American Medical Association worked in concert with Rockefeller interests to establish the pharmaceutical monopoly and marginalize competitors.
AMA's Role
- Lobbied for state licensing laws that favored allopathic medicine
- Established accreditation standards that excluded alternative schools
- Labeled competitors as "quacks" and "charlatans"
- Fought against chiropractic, osteopathy, midwifery, and naturopathy
- Controlled medical journal publishing, shaping acceptable research
The "Quackery" Campaign
The AMA established a "Committee on Quackery" that actively worked to destroy competition:
- Chiropractors labeled as "unscientific cultists"
- Homeopaths portrayed as practicing "absurd medicine"
- Natural medicine dismissed as "folklore"
- Midwives pushed out of birth practices
AMA Antitrust Violation
In 1987, a federal court found the AMA guilty of conspiring to destroy chiropractic. The case, Wilk v. AMA, documented the AMA's decades-long campaign to eliminate competition. The AMA was found to have violated antitrust laws.
Petrochemical-Based Medicine
The transformation of medicine created a system based on synthetic, petroleum-derived compounds rather than natural substances.
How Drugs Are Made
- Most pharmaceutical drugs are synthesized from petrochemical precursors
- Coal tar derivatives became the basis for many early drugs (aspirin originated from willow bark but was synthesized)
- Petroleum-derived plastics, dyes, and chemicals form pharmaceutical bases
- Synthetic compounds can be patented; natural ones cannot
The Patent Incentive
The pharmaceutical business model depends on patents:
- Patents provide 20-year monopoly on a compound
- Natural substances cannot be patented (no one can own vitamin C)
- Synthetic modifications of natural compounds can be patented
- This creates financial incentive to develop drugs, not natural treatments
- Even beneficial natural compounds receive no research funding
Aspirin
From Nature to Patent
Willow bark (natural) contains salicin, used for millennia for pain. Bayer synthesized acetylsalicylic acid (aspirin) and patented the synthetic version.
Taxol
Tree Bark to Cancer Drug
Discovered in Pacific yew tree bark. Bristol-Myers Squibb developed synthetic version, charging $10,000+ per treatment for what nature provided.
Lovastatin
Red Yeast Rice to Statin
Natural compound in red yeast rice became basis for statin drugs. The natural version was then restricted by FDA to protect drug sales.
The Legacy
The system created over a century ago continues to shape American medicine today.
What Was Lost
- Diverse medical traditions were largely eliminated
- Herbal and natural medicine knowledge marginalized
- Nutritional approaches to disease dismissed
- Prevention and lifestyle medicine minimized
- Medical diversity replaced by drug-focused monoculture
What Remains
- A system centered on pharmaceutical intervention
- Minimal nutrition education in medical schools
- Alternative approaches labeled "unscientific"
- Industry-funded research dominating medicine
- Chronic disease rates at all-time highs
"The medical monopoly or medical trust, euphemistically called the American Medical Association, is not merely the meanest monopoly ever organized, but the most arrogant, dangerous and despotic organization which ever managed a free people in this or any other age."
- Dr. J.W. Hodge, 1910
Documentary Evidence
The Flexner Report (1910)
"Medical Education in the United States and Canada" - Full text available online.
Carnegie Foundation ArchivesWilk v. AMA (1987)
Federal court decision finding AMA guilty of conspiring to destroy chiropractic.
Federal Court RecordsRockefeller Foundation Annual Reports
Historical records of foundation grants to medical schools and research institutions.
Rockefeller Archive Center"The Medical Monopoly" by Harris Coulter
Comprehensive history of the AMA and suppression of medical alternatives.
Published Research