William Barry Wood Jr., MD, was head of the Department of Medicine at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis from 1942-1955. He attended Harvard as an undergraduate and went on to Johns Hopkins Medical School, receiving his medical degree in 1936. Following a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard Medical School, he went on to become a full-time faculty member at Johns Hopkins.
Then, in 1942, at the age of 32, he became head of the Department of Medicine at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and physician-in-charge at Barnes Hospital.
Shortly before his death in 1971, Wood was interviewed for a documentary motion picture as part of the Leaders in American Medicine series produced by Alpha Omega Alpha, the National Library of Medicine and the National Medical Audiovisual Center.
View a clip from this documentary here:
Dr. Wood recalls when he was invited to be head of the Department of Medicine at Washington University from 39:30 – 43:24.
More information about Dr. Wood’s time at Washington University School of Medicine is available through the Bernard Becker Medical School Library archives here.