It represents the interests of physicians and citizens in the state of Maryland "from unscrupulous and untrained practitioners holding themselves out as health care providers.
MedChi was founded in January 1799, in Annapolis by 101 leaders of the medical profession in Maryland, including Dr. Tobias Watkins[2] and Dr. Ashton Alexander, its first secretary, treasurer, and last surviving charter member.
[3] The physicians who started the organization represented most of Maryland's counties.
("Chirurgical" was the common spelling of surgical at the time of the 18th Century.)
In 1882, Whitfield Winsey was admitted to the Medical and Chirurgical Faculty of Maryland, becoming the first African American to do so.