John M. Scudder  (1829-1894) was an American gynecologist. He was a Professor of the Theory and Practice of Medicine in the Eclectic Medical Institute Cincinnati. Eclectic medicine was a branch of American medicine which made use of botanical remedies along with other substances and physical therapy practices, popular in the latter half of the 19th and first half of the 20th centuries. In conjunction with his college duties, Dr. Scudder at once entered into practice in that old portion of Cincinnati known as Fulton. His success, both as a practitioner and money-maker, was phenomenal. He formed partnerships in order to handle the immense business; Dr. O. E. Newton being the most noteworthy of his partners. At one time his office was crowded with patients and the income from practice ran into the three tens, but love of his school overreached his love of riches, and he relinquished this lucrative practice with its golden opportunities for the perilous task of leadership in a hazardous effort to strengthen a tottering institution. His whole attention was now given to his alma mater, the Eclectic Medical Institute, which he meant to save and place upon a par with the best medical colleges of the world. How well he succeeded is now a part of history.

With the shrewd and discerning eye of the business man and with unselfish devotion to his profession he quickly saw in the financial mismanagement of the college and the internecine strife in the Faculty a wreck ahead for Eclecticism. He threw himself into the breach, took charge of the college and the Journal, and though the Civil War was coming on and decimating the ranks of the students he successfully guided the well-nigh sinking craft through perilous waters and brought her ashore unscathed and without dishonor. From the time he grasped the helm she has steadily ridden forth, spreading the gospel of Eclecticism in medicine; and from that day until the hour of his death John M. Scudder was, without question, the foremost Eclectic physician of his time.