How Rockefeller and Carnegie Rewired Modern Medicine — and Why It Still Affects You Today

At The Jolly Outlaw, we believe in living boldly, thinking freely, and questioning the systems that shape our lives. Few systems are more influential — or more taken for granted — than modern medicine. Most of us grew up believing that the medical system has always been scientific, trustworthy, and built to help us heal. But the truth is more complicated.

In the early 1900s, two of the most powerful men in American history — John D. Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie — helped reshape medicine in a way that still affects how we’re diagnosed, treated, and even taught to think about health today. This isn’t about conspiracy — it’s about following the money, the motives, and the long-term impact of decisions made over a century ago. If you’ve ever wondered why so much of modern medicine feels focused on prescriptions instead of prevention, this story is for you.

What Medicine Looked Like Before 1910

Before the 20th century, the medical world in America was a patchwork of healing systems, rooted in cultural tradition, hands-on observation, and community-based care. There wasn’t one dominant way to treat illness — there were many.

People turned to:

• Homeopathy — Founded by Samuel Hahnemann in the 1700s, it worked with the idea that “like cures like.” It emphasized ultra-diluted natural remedies and the body’s innate ability to heal itself.
• Naturopathy — A holistic approach using diet, herbs, sun, rest, and hydrotherapy to support natural healing processes.
• Eclectic Medicine — A uniquely American blend of botanical and empirical treatments rooted in Indigenous knowledge and scientific observation.
• Midwives, folk healers, and community caregivers — In rural areas and underserved communities, healing was often led by women, elders, and traditional practitioners.

This was medicine rooted in relationship, tradition, and accessibility.

It wasn’t perfect. But it wasn’t broken either.

• Dozens of homeopathic and eclectic schools trained practitioners.
• Black and female healers were widely trusted in their communities.
• The public could choose between healing systems.

It wasn’t chaos — it was competition. And competition meant choice.

The Flexner Report: A Turning Point in Medical History

In 1910, a little-known educator named Abraham Flexner was hired by the Carnegie Foundation to evaluate medical schools across the U.S. and Canada. He wasn’t a doctor. He had no clinical experience. But his report would permanently alter the course of medicine—and eliminate entire branches of healing in the process.

Backed by Andrew Carnegie and supported by the American Medical Association, the Flexner Report promoted a new standard: medicine rooted in laboratory science, aligned with elite institutions, and modeled after European (especially German) universities. At first glance, this may sound like progress. But the ripple effects were far-reaching—and deeply political.

The Agenda Behind the Reform

• Centralization of power — The AMA, Carnegie Foundation, and later the Rockefeller Foundation saw an opportunity to consolidate medicine under one model: allopathic, drug-based, and academically credentialed.
• Elimination of competition — The report was used to shut down hundreds of independent and community-based schools, particularly those teaching homeopathy, naturopathy, chiropractic, midwifery, and herbal medicine.
• Reinforcement of elitism — Schools serving women, Black students, and rural populations were disproportionately closed. By 1920, only two Black medical schools remained.

The result was a total transformation of medical education. Over half of North America’s medical schools were shut down, and with them, the cultural, community, and holistic approaches they represented.

What the Flexner Report Didn’t Measure

• It didn’t evaluate patient outcomes.
• It didn’t consider affordability, accessibility, or cultural relevance.
• It didn’t include nutrition, mental health, or prevention as priorities.

What it did measure was alignment with the new biomedical model—and that became the gatekeeper for legitimacy. If your school, method, or philosophy didn’t fit, it was dismissed.

This moment marks the beginning of a system where one form of medicine was declared “science”—and everything else was labeled quackery.

What “Scientific” Medicine Meant After the Flexner Report

• Rooted in biology and laboratory science — Disease became a biochemical malfunction rather than a holistic imbalance. The body was now a machine, not a whole person.
• Focused on anatomy, pathology, and germ theory — Students were trained to identify broken parts and kill pathogens, not explore causes like diet, stress, or trauma.
• Modeled after German university-style education — Emphasizing academic research and strict hierarchy, with long lab training and minimal field/community experience.
• Aligned with large hospitals and exclusive institutions — Schools with ties to elite hospitals thrived; others, especially those serving women, Black students, or natural medicine, were shut down.

Over 50% of medical schools closed, including many that emphasized homeopathy, naturopathy, and midwifery.

What That Meant for the Patient

This shift fundamentally changed the patient experience.

Healing became:

• Standardized instead of personalized — Protocols replaced listening. Individual context was de-emphasized in favor of lab values and symptom checklists.
• Credentialed instead of relationship-driven — Your doctor was no longer someone who knew your family or culture — they were a licensed authority trained to see you clinically, not holistically.
• Institutionalized instead of community-based — Healing moved from the home or village to the hospital. Care became centralized, expensive, and often impersonal.

Do the Drugs Work?

Pharmaceutical medicine has had real, measurable success in certain areas. We can’t deny the revolutionary power of antibiotics in fighting infection, the life-saving potential of insulin for Type 1 diabetes, or the role of anesthesia in transforming surgery. These are essential tools in acute and emergency medicine—where seconds matter and interventions must be decisive.

But when we shift from crisis care to the long-term management of chronic illness, the picture becomes far more complex—and far more troubling.

Chronic Illness and the System Built to Manage It

Today’s most-prescribed medications are not about curing disease. They are about controlling it. And for millions of people, this means trading one set of symptoms for another, often without being told there may be other options.

Take a closer look at the chronic conditions so many Americans are managing:

• High Blood Pressure
  Often referred to as the “silent killer,” hypertension doesn’t always have obvious symptoms—until it results in stroke, heart failure, or kidney damage. It’s a condition tied to stress, poor diet, inactivity, and sleep deprivation. Living with it often means multiple prescriptions, regular monitoring, and a lingering sense of vulnerability that can deter spontaneous or physically demanding activities like hiking, paddling, or even long road trips.
• High Cholesterol
  Elevated cholesterol, particularly LDL, is linked to increased heart attack and stroke risk. Statins—one of the most commonly prescribed drugs—can come with side effects like muscle pain and fatigue, which erode quality of life. People who once felt capable of chasing adventure now second-guess their energy levels or ability to endure physical exertion.
• Type 2 Diabetes
  This condition disrupts blood sugar regulation, affecting energy, cognition, and immune function. The daily burden of glucose tracking, dietary vigilance, and fear of insulin crashes creates mental and physical barriers to travel, movement, or time off-grid. The adventurous life becomes one of caution, planning, and avoidance.
• Depression and Anxiety
  Mental health conditions can sap motivation, cloud decision-making, and heighten the perception of risk. Medications may dull symptoms but often flatten emotional range or create dependency. For someone with a deep desire to explore and connect, the invisible weight of these conditions can be more limiting than any physical illness.
• Digestive Issues: GERD, IBS, and Autoimmune-Related Gut Dysfunction
  When your stomach can’t be trusted and food becomes a source of discomfort or dread, everything from road food to campfire meals becomes a gamble. These conditions often flare in response to stress, poor sleep, or environmental change—making spontaneous adventure a source of anxiety rather than joy.
• Inflammatory and Autoimmune Disorders
  Chronic inflammation manifests in everything from joint pain and fatigue to brain fog and skin conditions. Autoimmune disorders, where the immune system mistakenly attacks the body’s own tissues, often result in complex treatment protocols, food sensitivities, and low energy. For many, even the idea of packing a bag for a weekend trip feels exhausting.

These are not rare or extreme examples. They are the norm for tens of millions of Americans. And the longer we treat chronic illness as something to manage rather than resolve, the more disconnected we become from the vibrant, self-directed lives we once imagined.

The Placebo Effect and the Power of Belief

In medical research, placebos are used to separate real drug effects from psychological ones. But what that model quietly proves is this: belief itself is therapeutic. When a person thinks they are being cared for, their body responds. Stress hormones drop, pain perception shifts, immune resilience improves.

Natural and traditional approaches to healing often magnify this effect—not because they deceive, but because they engage the whole person. They offer time, intention, relationship, and a sense of purpose. These aren’t side effects—they’re part of why people get better. Modern medicine often treats these variables as irrelevant. But for the person who wants to heal—not just survive—they may be essential.

What This Means for Natural Medicine

Critics often dismiss homeopathy, naturopathy, and energy-based healing as “unscientific” because they can’t always be measured in double-blind trials. But those trials are designed to isolate variables, not understand complexity.

And healing is complex.

Natural and holistic approaches often involve:

• Time—more than the average 15-minute doctor visit
• Touch—through massage, bodywork, or energy treatments
• Trust—built through ongoing relationships
• Tradition—drawing on cultural wisdom passed through generations

These approaches don’t just address the body—they restore agency. The patient becomes a participant, not just a recipient. Even when the mechanisms aren’t fully understood, the outcomes can be transformative. This is not pseudoscience. It’s person-centered care. And in a system built for mass protocols and profit margins, that can feel revolutionary.

The Fall of Natural Healing and the Rise of “Quackery”

Once the new model of medicine took hold—shaped by the Flexner Report, Rockefeller Foundation, and the AMA—everything outside the system was systematically labeled as inferior.

• Medical schools that emphasized herbs, hands-on healing, or energetic medicine were shuttered.
• Practitioners without university credentials were painted as dangerous or untrained—regardless of their outcomes.
• Midwives and herbalists were replaced by institutional birth and standardized drugs.
• Cultural healing traditions were dismissed as superstition.
• And an entire generation of community healers—many of them women and people of color—were erased from legitimacy.

The new narrative was simple: If it wasn’t backed by science, it wasn’t real. But the definition of “science” had already been redefined—by men with money and a vision for controlling health through drugs.

Why This Still Matters Today

We live in the legacy of a system designed over a century ago. And despite technological advancements, the foundations have not changed.

Doctors are still trained in a narrow biomedical model, with minimal exposure to nutrition, movement science, environmental medicine, or mind-body integration. The average medical school provides fewer than 25 hours of education on nutrition, and almost no training on how trauma, sleep, or emotional well-being influence health.

Appointments are short. Follow-ups are clinical. And patients are rarely invited to understand their conditions deeply—only to comply. At the same time, pharmaceutical companies influence nearly every level of medical infrastructure. They fund research studies, sponsor medical journals, underwrite continuing education, and shape public policy through lobbying and marketing.

Meanwhile, rates of obesity, metabolic disease, mental health disorders, autoimmune conditions, and neurodegenerative diseases continue to climb. This isn’t accidental. It’s structural. And if we want a different outcome, we have to step outside the system as we know it.

You’re the Outlaw When You:

• …Stop waiting for permission to heal.
  You recognize that true health doesn’t always come from a prescription pad. It starts with you—what you eat, how you move, what you believe, and how you live. You’re willing to take ownership of your wellness, even if it means doing something different than your friends, your family, or even your doctor.
• …Choose to see yourself as a whole person, not a diagnosis.
  You look beyond lab results and symptom charts. You listen to your gut, your heart, and your body’s subtle signs. You understand that emotional wounds and spiritual disconnection show up physically—and you’re not afraid to explore both.
• …Reclaim your right to feel good—without apology.
  You reject the narrative that getting older means getting sicker. You refuse to believe that feeling “fine” is enough. You want vitality, clarity, strength, and freedom—and you’re willing to do the work to get there.
• …Trust food, movement, nature, and rest as powerful forms of medicine.
  You’re not against science—you just know it doesn’t hold all the answers. You trust that a walk outside, a home-cooked meal, or a good night’s sleep may do more for your body than any pill ever could.
• …Understand that the system wasn’t built for your healing.
  You’ve stopped expecting institutional medicine to fix what it helped break. You’ve seen the revolving door of symptom management, and you’re no longer willing to be a passive participant in your own decline.
• …Refuse to trade your freedom for convenience.
  You know that popping a pill may be easier than changing your life—but it rarely leads to healing. You choose the hard path when it’s the right one. You invest in yourself, your knowledge, your food, and your community.
• …Don’t follow blindly. You ride with intention.
  You’re not reckless—but you are rebellious. You don’t accept systems simply because they’re established. You ask questions, demand better answers, and build a life that reflects your values—not someone else’s profit.

Being an outlaw isn’t about rejecting all of medicine. It’s about rejecting the idea that you are powerless.

It’s about remembering that you have options—and that those options often begin when you step outside the gate everyone else is standing behind.