Mountford Joseph Bramley: A pioneering thyroidologist and the first principal of Asia's oldest medical college

Mountford Joseph Bramley was one of the educationists whose sincere efforts are undeniable in the making of modern India. After achieving the Member of the Royal College of Surgeons diploma, he joined the Malta Garrison as a Hospital Assistant and was soon promoted to the rank of Assistant Surgeon of the Rifle Brigade. Following his arrival in India in 1826, he held several important medical posts in the British service. He was one of the early researchers to investigate the role of iodine in the causation of goitre. He was appointed as the first Principal of the Medical College of Bengal, the oldest medical college in Asia, in 1835. Bramley was an educationist from the very core of his heart, and he always wished for the betterment of his students. He died early at the age of 34 years. His legacy as a pioneer in the fields of medical education and endocrinology, specifically thyroidology, has largely been shrouded in a miasma of time.