David Arthur Welsh becomes the fifth Dean of the Faculty of Medicine in 1927
From Faculty of Medicine Online Museum and Archive
Professor David Arthur Welsh was Dean of the Faculty of Medicine from 1927 to 1929. Welsh had been appointed foundation Professor in Pathology in 1902 at a time when the department of Pathology consisted of three small rooms. He began teaching pathology and all branches of laboratory medicine to medical, dental and veterinary students as well as acting as Hospital Pathologist for Royal Prince Alfred Hospital. Whilst he found the facilities lacking, Welsh developed an innovative teaching programme, the undergraduate course including bacteriology, immunology, protozoology, helminthology and haematology. He claimed that his department of Pathology excelled those in all other Universities in its haematology practical work for students. Welsh was an advocate for the role of pathology in the assessment of day-to-day clinical problems. Welsh wrote extensively in his areas of interests, particularly immunity, snake poisoning, hydatid disease and tuberculosis, cancer, diseases of the blood and parathyroid glands. During his tenure as Dean (1927-1929) his research and publishing diminished but he retained his teaching duties, still drawing heavily on the pathology text written his mentor Robert Muir.[1]
- Next article in timeline: Claude Witherington Stump becomes Bosch Professor of Histology and Embryology in 1928