Early life He was born on April 8, 1850, to William Wickham Welch and Emeline Collin Welch in
Norfolk, 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. William H. Welch was educated at
Norfolk Academy and the
Winchester Institute, a boarding school. His father and a grandfather and four of his uncles were all physicians. William Henry entered
Yale University in 1866, where he studied
Greek and classics. Initially, Welch was not interested in becoming a physician; his primary ambition was to teach the Greek language. Welch remained a lifelong bachelor. He was the uncle of Senator
Frederic C. Walcott.
Early career After a short period of teaching high-school students in
Norwich, New York, Welch went to study medicine at the
Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, in
Manhattan. In 1875, he received his
MD. 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 the
University of Leipzig. The new institute also built on the already existing
Johns Hopkins Hospital Historical Club (est. 1890), of which Welch had been a co-founder. Welch is also the founding editor-in-chief of the
American Journal of Epidemiology. , 1910 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. He also was president of the
American Medical Association, the
Association of American Physicians, the
History of Science Society, the Congress of American Physicians and Surgeons, the
Society of American Bacteriologists, and the Maryland State Board of Health. Welch was a founding editor of the
Journal of Experimental Medicine. Welch served in the
U.S. Army Medical Corps during
World War I, and played a major role in the response to the
1918 Influenza Pandemic. He remained in the Reserve Corps for three years thereafter, attaining the rank of
brigadier general (O7). For his service during the war, Welch received the
Distinguished Service Medal.
Death Welch died on April 30, 1934, at the age of 84, of prostatic
adenocarcinoma at
Johns Hopkins Hospital. ==Honors and awards==