Fredrick Arthur Willius
Fredrick Arthur Willius (24 November 1888 – 19 October 1972) was an American research cardiologist and medical historian who was the founding director of the Cardiology section at the Mayo Clinic. Life. Early life and education. Fredrick Arthur Willius was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, to Gustav Otto Conrad Willius (25 November 1831 – 26 September 1924) and his wife Emma (née Klausmeyer, 30 August 1855 – 26 April 1933). Gustav Willius and his brother, Ferdinand, were German immigrants who settled in St. Paul and established themselves in banking and finance. The Willius name (; ) is a latinized form of , and  the family, which is originally native to Kassel, has borne it since at least the 18th century. Emma Klausmeyer's father was Wilhelm Klausmeyer, himself an immigrant from Bavaria, who was a choir director, a pianist, and a member of the board of directors of the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. Fredrick's early education took place in the public schools of Dayton's Bluff, where he was born and raised. In 1906, shortly after beginning his third year at Mechanic Arts High School, Willius was struck with an attack of acute appendicitis, but when the first operation proved unsuccessful and  complications set in, he was operated on by Dr. Arnold Schwyzer on the family's kitchen table, and after a period of convalescence, he was returned to health. Willius credited this experience with inspiring him to pursue medicine, which went firmly against his father's wishes that he study architecture. Despite his father's reluctance, Fredrick graduated from high school with honors, at which point he enrolled in the University of Minnesota, with the intention to study medicine. He graduated from the university in 1912 as a Bachelor of Science, and in 1914 as a Doctor of Medicine. He was  a member of Phi Rho Sigma Medical Society, as well as the Sigma Xi Scientific Research Honor Society. During his junior year at the U of M, he participated in research with James F. Corbett on the causes and pathology of diabetes mellitus, for which he was awarded the Rollin E. Cutts Medal for experimental surgery. After graduation, Willius entered into a twelve-month internship at the University Hospital, and in 1915, he began his three-year fellowship in surgery at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. Marriage and family. On September 26, 1917, Willius married Stella Mae (née Popple , 14 March 1891 – 22 June 1986), the daughter of Herbert Eugene Popple (January 1858 - 15 October 1935) and Jennie Johnson (née , 14 November 1856 – 27 May 1952). Stella was born and raised on her parents' farm in Stewartville, Minnesota, and moved to Rochester in 1916. Stella's elder sister Corena had married Dr. William Plummer, the brother of Willius' mentor Henry Plummer in 1911, and this connection helped Stella find work at the Mayo clinic, as a technician in the pathology laboratory. It was while working at Mayo that the young couple became acquainted, and they were married shortly after . Their marriage produced three daughters. Medical career. Willius' arrival in Rochester in 1915 coincided with the inauguration of the Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, a collaboration between the Mayo Clinic and the University of Minnesota, which enabled him to receive his Master of Science in Medicine through study and work at the clinic, rather than having to return to the medical school in Minneapolis. Entering into his fellowship, Willius was assigned to work with Henry Stanley Plummer, one of the most respected diagnosticians in the country, and it was in working with Plummer that Fredrick realized his interest  lay in internal medicine and not surgery, which led to a change of specialty. Plummer and his colleague John M. Blackford had, in 1915, installed at the Mayo Clinic one of the first ECG machines in the country, only five years after Alfred Cohn's successful adoption of the technology at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. The following year, Willius was appointed first assistant in Medicine, and assigned to work with Blackford and Plummer in the newly established ECG lab. In 1917, he published his first paper with Blackford, on chronic heart-block, which helped establish his credentials  as an expert in the field of echocardiography. Later that year, Blackford left Mayo to help start the Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle, Washington, at which point Willius was promoted to head of the lab. By 1920, Willius had received his Master of Science in Medicine, and been promoted to Associate in medicine, where his passion for cardiology and diseases of the heart had become apparent. Cardiology was still in its early years as a medical specialty, particularly in the United States, so other doctors throughout the Clinic often asked Willius to consult on their cases involving heart conditions . In 1922, Willius was asked by Plummer, Will Mayo, and Charles Mayo to organize a new section at the Mayo Clinic: cardiology. Willius would remain chief of the cardiology section until his retirement in 1945, after which he remained a senior consultant for more than a decade. Given the youth of cardiology in this nation, much of the early work at the section revolved around creating standards with which to evaluate patients, both in terms of clinical practice, as well as collecting pertinent medical data to advance the field. During the first year alone, patients from sixteen states were admitted  to the cardiology section. This indicated a serious need for specialized heart care, and so additional funding was staff were secured to increase the capacity. Like his mentor, Plummer, Willius took theory and practice very seriously as a clinician, and so laid out strict rules for how patients were to be seen in his section: In addition to his clinical duties, Willius was made an instructor at the Mayo Graduate School of Medicine (now the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science) in 1920. In 1922, he was promoted to assistant professor, in 1927 to associate professor, and in 1945 , upon his retirement from practice, to full professor. While focusing on his clinical and educational roles, Willius also actively engaged in cardiological research, including continuing his research into the use and effectiveness of EKG technology. As his career advanced, he also developed an interest in the formation and pathology of thromboses, the therapeutic use of digitalis, and the effect of syphilis on the human heart. In 1938, Willius and his colleagues John English and Joseph Berkson were among the first clinicians to accurately predict a direct link between tobacco smoking and heart disease, and this research later contributed to reversing  decades of false information about the dangers of smoking. His retirement meant that he could focus on another great love of his, the history of medicine. In 1941, Willius and Thomas Keys published "Cardiac Classics. A Collection of Classic Works on the Heart and Circulation, with Comprehensive Biographic Accounts of the Authors", an exploration of the history of the heart as it pertained to medicine. From William Harvey to James B. Herrick, the book reproduced work by fifty-one scholars, scientists, and doctors who contributed to our understanding of the hear and its workings, and who helped make modern cardiology  what it is. In addition, the lives of the selected authors are outlined in detail, further explaining the context of their discoveries and their meaning to scholars today. In 1949, along with his writing partner Thomas J. Dry, Willius wrote "A History of the Heart and the Circulation". At once a historical and a medical text, the book explores the intersection between the heart, blood, and medical knowledge, spanning the centuries from ancient times to the present. While of a similar vein to Willius's first volume, this adopts more holistic approach to the study of history, and focuses on  exploring and analyzing the trajectory of the science of medicine as a whole, rather than reproducing the works of previous scholars. Willius was elected president of the Minnesota chapter of the American Heart Association in 1925. His lifelong organizational ties also included the American Medical Association, the Minnesota Medical Association, the Olmsted-Fillmore-Houston-Dodge Counties Medical Society, the Southern Minnesota Medical Association, the American College of Physicians, the American College of Surgeons, the Minnesota Society for the Study of the Heart and Circulation (President 1925 and 1941), the Central Society for Clinical Research (Charter member), the Central Interurban Clinical  Club, the Minnesota Society of Internal Medicine, and the Alumni Association of the Mayo Foundation. In 1957, Willius was invited by the Royal College of Surgeons to give a speech on the legacy and contributions of William Harvey to his field of cardiology, and medicine as a whole. Due to ill health, he was unable to attend the conference, but his speech was delivered in his stead by his friend and colleague Thomas Forrest Cotton. Willius died on October 19, 1972. In honor of "his appreciation of medical history and the great physicians of ages past, as well as for  his dedication to those who would come after him", the Willius Society: A History of Medicine Organization for Mayo Clinic Residents and Fellows, was named after him. Articles published. As sole author: In collaboration: