city, central Panama, just northeast of Balboa city. It is a residential centre. As Balboa and Panama City have grown, Ancón has become virtually a suburb of the latter. It was noted for the Gorgas Hospital for tropical diseases, named after Col. William Crawford Gorgas (Gorgas, William Crawford), (U.S. Army surgeon who eradicated yellow fever from the Canal Zone); the hospital closed and became a clinic. Ancón is also the site of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute for the research and promotion of tropical biology. It is on the Transisthmian Railway. Pop. (2000) urban agglom., 8,776.