Chronologically oldest state medical society in the United States, The Medical Society of New Jersey was founded on July 23, 1766, at a meeting held in New Brunswick. The 17 physicians who adopted the "instruments of association" on that day met in response to a notice, published in the New York Mercury, June 27, which read:
A considerable number of the practitioners of physic and surgery in New Jersey, having agreed to form a society for the advancement of their profession and promotion of the public good, request and invite every gentleman of the profession in the province to attend a meeting at Mr. Duff's, in the city of New Brunswick, on Wednesday, the 23d of July, at which time and place, the Constitution and Regulations of the Society are to be settled and subscribed.
The group elected as its first president the Reverend Robert McKean, pastor and physician who