Dudley Peter Allen (1852 – 1915) was an American surgeon, teacher, writer, and art patron. He was born in a family of physicians and was educated first at Oberlin College and later Harvard Medical School, becoming an M.D. in 1879. After briefly working in Massachusetts General Hospital, he went to Europe to attend medical and surgical lectures and clinics in Berlin, Vienna, London, Paris, and other medical centers. In 1883 he settled in Cleveland where he began a surgical career in the department of surgery in the Western Reserve University, where in time he became professor of surgery and clinical surgery. He also joined the surgical staff of the Lakeside Hospital where ultimately he became surgeon-in-chief. His professional practice rapidly grew to large proportions, and he was frequentl