James Tayloe Gwathmey, M.D., graduated from Vanderbilt Medical School in 1899. Throughout his schooling, he is believed to have served as the Director of the Gymnasium and Instructor in Physical Exercise at Vanderbilt. Upon graduation, he went to New York City to conduct a rotating internship including medicine, chest conditions, and contagious diseases. He received full training in surgery and anesthesia in 1902 and 1903 at the New York Skin and Cancer Hospital, becoming one of the earliest full-time anesthesiologists. Gwathmey co-authored in 1914 the first edition of Anesthesia with Dr. Charles Baskerville, a dinstinguished chemist, followed by an edition in 1924. He served in World War I as a physician anesthetist and founded the American Association of Anesthetists. He passed away in 1944 and was buried with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery.