For today's ridiculous alum of the day, I've decided (on the advice of a certain Claire Perry) to focus away from finance and instead look towards life-saving alums. After some quick research (aided greatly by Rilka Spieler and Josh Thorn), I found someone incredible: William H. Harris.
William (Bill) H. Harris, Haverford Class of 1949, received his MD from the University of Pennsylvania and subsequently ended up completing his residency in orthopedic surgery at the famed Massachusetts General Hospital. After this robust education, his career really took off.
To summarize, Harris pioneered pretty much everything having to do with hip surgery. Also, by everything... I really mean EVERYTHING.
According to the Orthopedic Research Society (which gives out an award in Harris' honor):
"The contributions of William H. Harris, MD, to hip replacement are vast and range from the identification of the nature of osteolysis to the development of surgical techniques and implants. He invented the cement gun which replaced finger packing and improved cementing technique. He designed the first modular metal-backed acetabular component, which gave surgeons the ability to replace the polyethylene liner without having to remove the entire component."
Sounds impressive right? Well, that is just the first of four paragraphs detailing Harris' amazingness. In addition to his lengthy list of surgical accomplishments, Harris has published over 400 scientific publications and three textbooks relating to orthopedic surgery and arthritis and won the most prestigious awards in his field multiple times... each. Seriously... wow.
Finally, Harris' accomplishments were so profound that Haverford actually named the Harris Wing in the INSC after him, in addition to having him as a longtime member of our Board of Managers. Cool!
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Harris and his wife (in the center) celebrating the opening of the Koshland Integrated Natural Sciences Center with their family (Haverford) |
Also, on a personal note, I actually met Dr. Harris at a Board of Managers student lunch! It was exciting!
For more information about William H. Harris:
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