William H. Welch | |
|---|---|
 Welch as brigadier general circa 1917-1921 | |
| 1st Dean ofJohns Hopkins School of Medicine andSchool of Public Health | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1850-04-08)April 8, 1850 Norfolk, Connecticut |
| Died | April 30, 1934(1934-04-30) (aged 84) |
| Nationality | American |
| Residence(s) | Baltimore,Maryland |
| Education | Yale University (BA) Columbia University (MD) |
| Occupation | Physician,pathologist |
| Signature | .png) |
| Academic work | |
| Institutions | Johns Hopkins University |
William Henry Welch (April 8, 1850 – April 30, 1934) was an Americanphysician,pathologist,bacteriologist, and medical-school administrator. He was one of the "Big Four" founding professors at theJohns Hopkins Hospital.[1] He was the first dean of theJohns Hopkins School of Medicine and was also the founder of theJohns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health, the first school ofpublic health in the country. Welch was more known for his cogent summations of current scientific work, than his own scientific research. The Johns Hopkins medical schoollibrary is also named after Welch. In his lifetime, he was called the "Dean of American Medicine" and received various awards and honors throughout his lifetime and posthumously.[2]
He was born on April 8, 1850, to William Wickham Welch and Emeline Collin Welch inNorfolk, Connecticut. He had a long family history of physicians and surgeons, starting with his grandfather Benjamin Welch. Benjamin was also on the medical forefront of his time, establishing his county's medical association.[3] William H. Welch was educated atNorfolk Academy and theWinchester Institute, a boarding school. His father and a grandfather and four of his uncles were all physicians. William Henry enteredYale University in 1866, where he studiedGreek and classics. Initially, Welch was not interested in becoming a physician; his primary ambition was to teach the Greek language.[4] He received anBachelor's of Arts degree in 1870. As an undergraduate, he joined theSkull and Bones fraternity.[5]
Welch remained a lifelong bachelor. He was the uncle of SenatorFrederic C. Walcott.
After a short period of teaching high-school students inNorwich, New York, Welch went to study medicine at theColumbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, inManhattan. In 1875, he received hisMD. From 1876 to 1877, he studied at several German laboratories to work with, among others,Julius Cohnheim. This experience abroad prompted Welch to model his plans for a new medical institute on the Institute of the History of Medicine at theUniversity of Leipzig.[4] He returned to America in 1877 and opened a laboratory at Bellevue Medical College (now a part ofNew York University Medical School).
In 1884, he was the first physician recruited to be a professor at the newly forming Johns Hopkins Hospital and Medical School atJohns Hopkins University inBaltimore.[1] By 1886, he had 16 graduate physicians working in his laboratory – the first postgraduate training program for physicians in the country.[1] He helped the trustees recruit the other founding physicians for the hospital –William Stewart Halsted,William Osler, andHoward Kelly. Welch became head of the Department of Pathology when the hospital opened in 1889. In 1893, he also became the first dean of theJohns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and in 1916, he established and led theJohns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health, the first school ofpublic health in the country. During this time, Welch was also involved in creating a new medical library for Johns Hopkins. He embarked on asabbatical in Europe, where he visited the University of Leipzig's Institute and various other universities, as well as libraries and bookstores. These German institutions influenced Welch's design for theInstitute of the History of Medicine at Johns Hopkins, which was established in October 1929.[6] The new institute also built on the already existingJohns Hopkins Hospital Historical Club (est. 1890), of which Welch had been a co-founder.[7] Welch is also the founding editor-in-chief of theAmerican Journal of Epidemiology.
Graduates of Welch's training programs were highly coveted as academic physicians. Medical schools and institutes across the country vied for Welch's former students and graduate scientists to fill top posts.[1] Many of his residents went on to become highly prominent physicians, includingWalter Reed, co-discoverer of the cause ofyellow fever,Simon Flexner, founding director of theRockefeller Institute for Medical Research, and future Nobel laureatesGeorge Whipple andPeyton Rous.
Welch's research was principally inbacteriology, and he is the discoverer of theorganism that causesgas gangrene. It was namedClostridium welchii in recognition of that fact, but now the organism usually is designated asClostridium perfringens.
From 1901 to 1933, he was founding president of the Board of Scientific Directors at theRockefeller Institute for Medical Research. He was an instrumental reformer of medical education in the United States, as well as a president of theNational Academy of Sciences from 1913–1917.[8] He also was president of theAmerican Medical Association, theAssociation of American Physicians, theHistory of Science Society, the Congress of American Physicians and Surgeons, theSociety of American Bacteriologists, and the Maryland State Board of Health. Welch was a founding editor of theJournal of Experimental Medicine.
Welch served in theU.S. Army Medical Corps duringWorld War I, and played a major role in the response to the1918 Influenza Pandemic. He remained in the Reserve Corps for three years thereafter, attaining the rank ofbrigadier general (O7). For his service during the war, Welch received theDistinguished Service Medal.[9]
Welch died on April 30, 1934, at the age of 84, of prostaticadenocarcinoma atJohns Hopkins Hospital.[2]
