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James Edward Hanger served in the Confederate Army for less than two days. His military experience was cut short after the first land battle of the Civil War, and Hanger holds the “honor” of being the first known amputee of the conflict. Devastated with the loss of his limb, Hanger turned his emotional trauma into ingenuity, creating an artificial limb that revolutionized prostheses and a business that continues to innovate and advance the field of prosthetic limbs.  

One of the founding fathers of medical education in West Virginia, Edward Van Liere’s impact on West Virginia University’s Medical School cannot be understated. As a member of the faculty for 45 years and the Dean of the Medical School for 25 years, Van Liere oversaw dramatic changes in the medical program, most notably the transformation into a four-year program and the establishment of a medical hospital. Indeed, without his capable leadership, it is possible that the Medical School would not have survived through the 1930s, let alone grown into the successful institution it has become today.