Thomas Hodgkin. Portrait of the British physician Thomas Hodgkin (1798-1866). Hodgkin was appointed as pathologist at Guy's Hospital, London, England in 1825. In 1832, he was the first person to describe lymphadenoma or Hodgkin's disease. In this cancer, unchecked cell growth in the lymph node leads to enlargement of the nodes in the armpit, neck and groin, along with a diseased spleen. Hodgkin also helped to found the Aborigines' Protection Society in 1838.