Many medical specialties date way back in history, but few boast the relevance that the internist once did. Believe it or not, internists date well back into the 19th century. At least that’s when they were formally named. Odds are, this profession pre-dates the 19th century by a few hundred years. The terms internist and internal medicine were first used by German physicians in the 19th century to accurately describe a distinct branch of medicine that did not use any surgical methods of treatment when dealing with patients. Something that was rather unheard of back in this time.

From there, internal medicine only expanded. In fact, the American Congress on Internal Medicine was established in 1915. The idea of this establishment was to facilitate ideas among physicians interested in becoming internists themselves. With this fellowship in mind, interested doctors could publish research, grant research fellowships, and bounce ideas off of one another. The group has since become known as the American College of Physicians. As of 2003, there were more than 164,000 registered internists working in the United States.

Today, internists are some of the most trusted doctors and physicians working. Have you ever seen an internist?