He interned for two years at
Bellevue Hospital in New York under Drs.
Austin Flint and
Edward G. Janeway. He then opened his medical practice. To supplement his income, he saw patients at the local
Marine Hospital from 1879 to 1888. Between 1880 and 1887, he was professor of
physiology at the Women's Medical College (which closed in 1918 and became the
New York Medical College). He published his medical lectures and edited the weekly publication,
Medical Record, with Dr.
Smith Ely Jelliffe. In 1886, he became a Fellow of the
New York Academy of Medicine, serving as president, 1905-1906 and 1914-1916; chair of its Public Health Committee, 1911-1928; and a trustee, 1906-1934. Dana became interested in
neurology through his associations with Drs.
Edward Seguin,
William Hammond, and
George Beard. He joined the
New York State Neurological Society in 1881 and the
American Neurological Association in 1882, serving as president in 1892. He held the post of professor of diseases of the nervous system and mind at the
New York Post-Graduate Medical School and Hospital from 1884 to 1895. He served on the board of trustees of the
Neurological Institute of New York. From 1902 until his retirement in 1934, he was a professor of nervous diseases at
Cornell Medical College. Dana published over 250 articles. His
Text-book of Nervous Diseases for the Use of Students and Practitioners of Medicine, first published in 1892, went through ten editions until 1925. His publications attempted to apply new ideas and experimental results from
general pathology to neurology, and medical topics included the study of
medical psychology,
eugenics, and
public health. He retired in 1933. == Other academic work ==