J. Whitridge Williams was born in Baltimore on January 26, 1866. He received his A.B. from the Johns Hopkins University in 1886 and his M.D. from the University of Maryland in 1888. He spent the next several years at universities in Berlin and Vienna studying bacteriology and pathology, and in 1889 he returned to Baltimore to be a volunteer assistant to Howard A. Kelly at the Johns Hopkins Hospital.
Williams returned to Europe to study obstetrics and in 1892 joined the staff of the Johns Hopkins Hospital. When the medical school opened in 1893 Williams became an associate in obstetrics. He became associate professor of obstetrics in 1896 and professor in 1899.
In 1915, Dr. Williams was elected as President of the Medical & Chirurgical Faculty of Maryland.
Dr. Williams served as dean of the school of medicine from 1911 until 1923. His main contributions to scientific research were in the pathology of obstetrical and gynecological disorders. He wrote over one hundred scientific papers and the standard Textbook of Obstetrics. He revised it many times, and the book is still in print under the title Williams' Obstetrics.
Williams was the founder of academic obstetrics in the United States and with his textbook was the recognized leader of this discipline in America during the first 30 years of the 20th century.
After serving under Dr. Howard Kelly, J. Whitridge Williams was appointed as chief of Obstetrics at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, a position he held until his untimely death. He died on October 21, 1931 from complications of an abdominal surgery, performed by his friend, Dr. J.M.T. Finney.
From The Chesney Archives at Johns Hopkins
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