Progress Medels

Progress Medal 1999 is awarded to
Sir David Innes Williams

MD, MCHIR, FRCS.

Sir David Innes Williams was appointed at Great Ormond street hospital for Children as a senior genitourinary surgeon and contributed to the publication of the Urology of Childhood in early 1951. He made indepth studies of posterior urethral valves and was the first to emphasize to the pediatricians the need to recognize urinary obstruction in the neonate and it’s treatment before infection supervened. Publication of Springer Encyclopedia of urology was also his distinguished contribution, both in providing an educational manual on the subject as well as in raising the bar for the emerging cadres of paediatric Urologists across the world. Sir David Innes Williams recognized the value of a combined training regimen in general urology and paediatric surgery and established an excellent training facility at great Ormond street hospital, London, where he worked till 1978. He was joined by Mr. Philip G. Ransley in 1977 who carried his torch and legacy for the next three decades mentoring and firing the enthusiasm of many more paediatric urologists, including the 1authors of this tribute.

Sir David is gifted as a highly respected teacher and an education supervisor. This is exemplified by the posts he held subsequently: Director of the British Postgraduate Medical Federation, Chairman of the Council for Postgraduate Medical Education in England and Wales, Chairman of the Overseas Committee of the General Medical Council and President of the British Medical Association for 1988-89. The members of the Executive Council of the World Federation of Societies for Paediatric Urology feel privileged in honoring Sir David Innes Williams.

A tribute by Minu Bajpai, MD, MS, MCh, PhD, National Board, Fulbright Scholar.