Temple University School of Medicine - Skull Yearbook (Philadelphia, PA)

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J. Robert Willson, A.B., M.D. The Class of 1951 first met Dr. J. R. Willson, Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, in a brief series of lectures in the sopho-more year. Our firs: impression was that of a man with an orderly mind who was capable of an informal and easy delivery of a large amount of factual information. Our respect for his teaching ability grew during the junior course, when his stamina amazed us and his lectures remained as interesting at the conclusion of three consecutive hours as they were at the start. During the third and fourth years his reputation for being a perfectionist was justified in the example he set as a true leader, willing to assume any task he demanded of others. His qualities as a teacher are apparent in his belief that the importance of imparting knowledge to students is second only to the welfare of the patient; and this attitude has permeated the entire department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. James Robert Willson was born in Flint, Michigan, on October 1, 1912 of Scotch-Canadian ancestry. The elder of two boys in the family, J. Robert attended public school in Flint, where his father had an insurance business. His education was furthered at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, where he was enrolled in the pre-medical curriculum for three years. He continued as a medical student in this university, and was graduated in 1937. While at the medical school he studied under many well-known professors, including Dr. G. Carl Huber, in Anatomy; and it was during this period the decision to make Obstetrics and Gynecology his chcsen field was made. The summer between the junior and senior years in medical school Dr. Willson spent as a research assistant in the Department of Pharmacology, determining the effect of caffeine on metabolism and muscular activity. Another activity in medical school was membership in the Galen Society, a service organization devoted to raising funds foi occupational therapy for children in the hospital. This organization he served as president during his senior year. It was in 1935, during his student days, that he was married to Margaret Starr, a girl from his home town whom he had known most of his life. She, too, had attended the University of Michigan, and after graduation taught English in a junior high school in Flint. His professional training continued with an internship in Ann Arbor at the University of Michigan Hospital, followed by a

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dedication

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10 three year residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology. Additional experience was obtained during this time by taking weekend calls for a general surgeon in a small hospital near Ann Arbor. This, incidentally, entailed development of a certain proficiency in X-Ray work. The period of residency was spent under the aegis of Norman F. Miller, Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, whose professional caliber and exacting methods had a profound influence on the young doctor. It was sometime during this period of residency, which provided many contacts with medical students, that Dr. Willson's aptitude for and interest in teaching became apparent. This was followed by the logical decision to enter the field of medical education. He therefore continued at the University of Michigan as Instructor for a year before going to the University of Chicago Medical School in 1942. The promotion to Assistant Professor at Chicago-Lying-in came in 1943. Here, his already growing interest in the problem of toxemias of pregnancy received further impetus under the able tutelage of the similarly interested William J. Dieckmann. This early work, augmented by continuous interest, insatiable curiosity, and unrelenting research has today reached fruition in a department at Temple where the importance of the eclamptic state is given due consideration. December of 1946 brought Dr. J. Robert Willson to Temple University Hospital to head the Department of Obstet-