The Physician to the Hospital was to receive $1500 per annum. Dr. William Hillebrand became Queen's Hospital's first House Physician and Surgeon in 1859 and held that position until his resignation in 1871.

Dr. William Hillebrand was also a member of the Board of Health and for a period was physician at the Insane Asylum. In partnership with J. Mott-Smith he owned a drug store at Hotel and Fort streets. He was one of the signers of the charter of incorporation of the Hawaiian Medical Society in 1856 and served as its first vice-president.

The privy council appointed Dr. Hillebrand Commissioner of Immigration in April and directed him to look into the matter of getting workers from Asia to replace native workers. Much later (1877) he arranged for the emigration of workers from Madeira, where he was then living, and from the Azores. This pioneer group of 180 Portuguese reached Honolulu in September 1878. At the request of the Board of Health he also investigated methods for the control of leprosy during his trip. In 1883 he wrote an article on the "Investigation of Contagium of Leprosy".

Many rare trees, planted by the doctor himself, are still to be seen on the grounds of the Queen's Medical Center. Foster Gardens on Nuuanu Avenue, which was Dr. Hillebrand's former home, has another collection of exotic trees and flowers planted by the doctor.

Dr. Hillebrand and his family left Hawaii for the last time on June 27, 1871. He spent the winter of 1871-1872 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he began, with Professor Asa Gray's assistance, the manuscript of his monumental Flora of the Hawaiian Islands. In this work some 250 species of rare plants, then unknown to the botanical world, are described.

In Memoriam - Doctors of Hawaii biography of W. Hillebrand

In 1869 Dr. Robert McKibbin, Jr. was appointed Assistant Physician at a salary of $600 per annum. Upon Hillebrand's resignation in 1871, McKibbin was appointed House Physician & Surgeon and held the position until 1892.

Robert McKibbin, Jr. was born in County Down, Ireland, circa 1831. In May 1859, Dr. McKibbin was appointed personal physician to King Kamehameha IV, succeeding Dr. T.C.B. Rooke who died the previous year. In 1860 he received the appointment of inspector of prostitutes. For a time Dr. McKibbin was port physician, resigning in January 1869. For a number of years he served as a member of the Board of Health and was also on the Board of Medical Examiners in 1882.

Dr. McKibbin performed the first skin graft done in the Islands in 1872. Dr. George Trousseau was the donor and Dr. McKibbin grafted the skin onto the leg of a patient injured in a collision.

The doctor became a naturalized subject of the Kingdom of Hawaii and was deeply interested in the affairs of his adopted country. During and after the revolution of 1893, he was known as a Royalist but not as an active partisan.

He was also interested in the cultivation of sugar, and, as early as 1866, was mentioned as one of the proprietors of the Kaalaea Plantation on Oahu and also served as president of the Ookala Sugar Company on Hawaii. In line with these interests he was active in the Hawaiian Agricultural Society and served on its Board of Management (1885-1886).

It is reported that Dr. McKibbin, who was somewhat stern of countenance, was called Kauka Pamalo by the Hawaiians, kauka meaning doctor and pamalo meaning dry or expressionless. On his death the Hawaiian Gazette of April 5, 1901, said of the doctor, "although blunt and sometimes brusque of manner, he was a man of generous impulses and kindness of heart." He was also characterized as a brusque Irishman with the impeccable manners of an English gentleman.

In Memoriam - Doctors of Hawaii biography of R. McKibbin Jr.

In 1878 McKibbin recommended Dr. F.B. Hutchinson to the position of Assistant Physician. Hutchinson was appointed in 1879 and remained in the position until 1882.

Francis Blake Hutchinson was born in London, England on December 4, 1837. Arriving in Honolulu July 31, 1874, Hutchinson set up on Kauai until he moved to Honolulu in July 1875. In September he was appointed port physician and physician for the Insane Asylum. About the same time he received an appointment to the Board of Health. In July 1879, he was selected assistant physician at the Queen's Hospital, a position he held until he left the Islands.

During his years in the Islands, Dr. Hutchinson was the first president of the Athletic Association, organized in 1882, and appears to have been a member of the Library and Reading Room Association since he made a speech at the formal opening on March 19, 1881. While in Hawaii, the doctor became a naturalized citizen.

In Memoriam - Doctors of Hawaii biography of FB Hutchinson

Upon Hutchinson's resignation, Dr. George P. Trousseau was appointed Assistant House Physician. During a leave of absence by McKibbin in 1883, Dr. Trousseau took on the role of House Physician and Dr. John Brodie was made temporary Assistant House Physician with a salary of $750 per annum.

George Phillippe Trousseau was born in Paris on May 1, 1833. In 1862, when still a very young man to receive such an honor, he was made a Knight of the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honor for his professional services during several epidemics.

Shortly after his arrival to Honolulu in May 1872 he was given the position of port physician. In that same year medical history was made when a skin graft was performed for the first time in the Islands. Dr. Robert McKibbin, with whom Dr. Trousseau was to work many times in the future, was the surgeon and Dr. Trousseau was the donor of the skin graft which was grafted onto the leg of a patient injured in a collision.

In 1873 the doctor was made responsible for handling an epidemic of smallpox just introduced from San Francisco. He succeeded in limiting the number of cases to 38 and the deaths to 17. Upon Dr. Trousseau's advice, a concerted effort was made in the same year to segregate lepers, and he examined several hundred persons at the Kalihi Receiving Hospital for suspected cases of leprosy.

In October 1875, Dr. Trousseau sold his practice to Dr. F.B. Hutchinson and moved to Kona, Hawaii. Here, he raised sheep, importing marino rams from France. In 1879 he sold his sheep ranch and started Kukuihaele Sugar Plantation at Hamakua, Hawaii, which he managed very successfully until April 1882, when he decided to resume his medical practice.

Back in Honolulu he soon became involved in a number of jobs in addition to maintaining a private practice at an office on Punchbowl Street across from the Queen's Hospital. Once again he accepted the position of port physician, this was followed in May by his appointment to the Board of Medical Examiners. The next month he became a member of the Board of Trustees of Queen's Hospital, and in January 1883, he became, once again, a member of the Board of Examiners for Lepers. In a complete reversal of his original theory about leprosy, Dr. Trousseau resigned from the Board of Examiners for Lepers in 1893 because he could see no advantage in segregation.

Dr. Trousseau was a Colonel on King Lunalilo's personal staff and also his physician. He and Dr. Richard Oliver attended his Majesty during his last illness in 1874. The doctor numbered many of the royal family among his patients and served as administrator of the estate of King Kalakaua. In March 1884, he was appointed Knight Companion of the Royal Order of Kamehameha I, and in February 1885, he was made a Knight Companion of the Royal Order of Kalakaua.

In Memoriam - Doctors in Hawaii biography of G.P. Trousseau

John W. Brodie was born in the Canadian Province of Quebec on March 7, 1853. He arrived in Honolulu in September 1880. Besides a large private practice, Dr. Brodie was appointed Port Physician in 1885, a position he held until 1889 when he resigned.

In 1887 he was appointed prison physician and the next year became physician for the Lunalilo Home. The pressure of his private practice, in addition to his other duties, undermined his health and forced him to curtail his practice. In line with this, he invested heavily in Halemano Ranch near Waialua where he built a beautiful home and spent as much time as he could. He was especially interested in breeding horses. Unfortunately, the ranch proved to be a non-paying venture, and he was finally forced to sell. Always interested in target shooting, he was a charter member of the Hawaiian Rifles and served as the group's first president, a position he held for two successive terms.

In Memoriam - Doctors in Hawaii biography of J.W. Brodie

After McKibbin's return to the Hospital in 1884, Dr. Trousseau resigned as Assistant House Physician. Dr. Henri McGrew was elected into this position and received an increase of salary of $75 per month.

Henri Goulden McGrew came to the Islands with his parents in March 1867. He was the adopted son of Dr. John S. McGrew, being the son of Mrs. Pauline Gillet McGrew by a previous marriage.

Before his election as Queen's Hospital's Assistant House Physician, Dr. McGrew was appointed port physician in February 1884. After resigning from his positions as Assistant House Physician and as port physician, Dr. McGrew left the Islands. In May 1886, Dr. McGrew went to Paris where he spent four years studying at the University of Paris and in the city's hospitals.

Upon his return in May 1890, Dr. McGrew took up practice in his former office on Hotel Street, and sometime in 1891 he was put in charge of the City Dispensary, a position he held for several years. For a time he was also a member of the Committee to Examine Lepers. However, his health was undermined by overwork. Hoping to improving his health, he moved to California in July 1893. Experiencing no change for the better, he returned to Honolulu in December. Dr. McGrew died on October 22, 1894, in Honolulu at the age of 31.

In Memoriam - Doctors in Hawaii biography of H.G. McGrew