Claudio Galen, better known as Galen, came from an ancient Greek city by the name of Pergamon. Pergamum was a Greek center for learning and medicine where he, born into wealth, had plenty of time to study. After his father's death he went to study in Smyrna (located in present-day Izmir, Turkey) and then to Alexandria to finish his medical studies. His first assignment as a doctor was in the service of the gladiators at Pergamon, where he honed his skills in anatomy and surgery. By the time he went to Rome, news of his physiological prowess had reached Marcus Aurelius himself, Emperor of Rome, so he became Aurelius' personal physician (Osborn, 2007). However, physiology was not Galen's only interest. Contrary to the conventional logic of the time, Galen's treatise entitled That the Best Doctor is Also a Philosophy provided doctors with an unanticipated ethical reason to study philosophy. Galen argued that the pursuit of wealth is incompatible with serious medical practice. He thought doctors should despise money and accused colleagues of greed. Galen downplayed the degree to which wealth was a motivator for becoming a doctor (Klein, 2009). But beyond the realm of motivation, Galen's philosophical ideals sharpened his reasoning and observations. To understand where Galen gathered his philosophical ideals, it is necessary to understand the philosophies of the Hellenistic medical schools. According to Michael Boylan of Marymount University, until the end of the 4th century BC and throughout the 3rd century BC, major medical advances revolved around the prolific physicians and philosophers: Diocles, Praxagoras, Herophilus, and Erasistratus. It was in this era that debates centered on the role in which both theory and observation opened the door to anatomical and physiological observation. And his observations on blood came so close to discovering the true nature of circulation that William Harvey wondered how Galen himself had not come to that conclusion (Klein, 2009). Galen laid an important foundation for future doctors. Works Cited Boylan, M. (2002, August 12). Galen [Internet encyclopedia of philosophy]. Encyclopedia of philosophy on the Internet. Retrieved January 24, 2011, from http://www.iep.utm.edu/galen/Klein, J.E. (2009). Galen | www.hsl.virginia.edu. Claude Moore Health Sciences Library | www.hsl.virginia.edu. Retrieved from http://www.hsl.virginia.edu/historical/artifacts/antiqua/galen.cfmOsborn, D. K. (2007). Greek Medicine: Galen. Greek Medicine: Welcome to Greek Medicine. Retrieved from http://www.greekmedicine.net/whos_who/Galen.html