[6] He moved to Dricourt when the Parliament dissolved, but returned to Paris after the birth of his son, who he destined to be a fellow lawyer.
[5] A mediocre student, Corvisart spent most of his time playing outdoor sports, giving no indication of the bright future his father dreamt.
[6] However, one day, after listening to anatomy professor, Antoine Petit, and visiting medical clinics in Paris, Corvisart became fascinated in medicine.
He later attended medical school at the Faculte de Medicine, where he was an outstanding student, known for his work ethic, observation skills, and independent spirit.
[7] To his peers, Corvisart was known to be stocky in stature, vigorous in manner, outspoken, honest, generous to the poor, and not afraid to defy tradition.
[6] While in medical school, Corvisart studied and closely followed the likes of Debois de Rochefort, Busquet Halle, Pelletan Roger, Vicq d'Azyr and was a favorite pupil of Antoine Petit and Pierre-Joseph Desault.
[5] He slowly became more and more well known, climbing up the ranks, and eventually, in 1783, was appointed to teach physiology, surgery, and obstetrics to medical school.
[6][a] Napoleon was said to be a 'difficult' person to treat in the clinical setting, as he demanded a full explanation for each aspect of the ailments he experienced.
[5] Napoleon often refused to take prescribed medicine and was skeptical as to the practice and application of medical treatment, save that suggested by Corvisart, who he deemed as both competent and reliable.
[6] In retrospect of the successful and tactful treatment, Napoleon was quoted as saying, "I saw that Corvisart understood my system, and that he was the doctor who suited me, so I attached him to myself".
[5] By this time, Corvisart had become one of the most reputable and cleverest physician of his day, working as head of the greatest hospital in Paris.
[5][b] Thus, when Barthez died in 1806, Corvisart was given the title of 'chief physician' and attended to Napoleon and his family, consisting of the Empress as well as the Imperial House and court.
[7] Napoleon was also said to have contracted a violent case of the scabies, which Corvisart was able to effectively treat with a concoction of ointments and salves containing olive oil, alcohol, and 'powdered cevilla'.
[9] In this capacity Corvisart was given a copy of the letter Jenner had written to Napoleon, entreating his release of the British prisoners in July 1806.
[10] As Portal became more influential in the French medical scene, he attracted the attention of Corvisart, who would not permit him to engage with the Imperial family, out of a deep dislike.
[5] Corvisart contributed heavily to the field of pathological anatomy, by advocating for the understanding that the uniqueness of each body and its organs affect the nature of disease.
[11] Within this time period, medical practitioners commonly believed the natural state of the human body was consistent health, unless faced with an unknown catalyst.
Either acute or chronic illnesses were caused by the body's constitutional make-up and its weakened ability to fight against the specific disease.
Although the aforementioned lesions were common in most corpses, Corvisart and his contemporaries shifted medicine towards the clinical and physical ways that disease affects the body and away from the patient narrative.
[14]: 27 As one of his publications, Corvisart's translation of Leopold Auenbrugger's Inventum novum in 1808 further expanded the field of auscultation through providing a text for physicians to learn how to percuss patients' chests for diagnostic purposes.
[21] By establishing a monetary clinical teaching school at Hôpital de la Charité, Corvisart and his peers codified a current institution of medical training.
Corvisart's original work consists of Essai sur les maladies du cœur (1806), and has many other commentaries on other medical tracts.
He has been called "the true promoter of clinical medicine in France" for diverting the focus of observational diagnosis to the physical examination.