Joseph Hinsey was an American scientist and educator who encouraged the development of the pap smear and automobile crash tests.
Born in 1901 in Ottumwa, Iowa, Dr. Hinsey received his Ph. D. in 1927 from Washington University, where he studied under S. Walter Ranson and two future Nobel Laureates, Herbert Gasser and Joseph Erlanger. In 1936 he joined the Cornell University Medical College, becoming its Dean five years later and turning it into one of the most respected medical schools in the country. While at Cornell he encouraged research that would lead to the "Pap Test," and supported the Crash Injury Research Project. From 1953 to 1966, Dr. Hinsey was Director of the New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center.
Dr. Hinsey was an active spokesman for American medical education and health care. He was a founder of the Association of American Medical Colleges and among the founding members of the National Fund for Medical Education, as well as a Commissioner on the President's Commission on the Health Needs of the Nation (1952). He died March 25, 1981.
