Joseph Wadsworth, the founder of the Duke Eye Center and doctor of ophthalmology, died May 7 at the age of 84.
Wadsworth graduated from the University's medical school in 1939 and returned in 1965 to serve as the first chair of the ophthalmology department. Prior to his return to the University, ophthalmology-a department focusing on eye surgery and care-had been a division of the surgical department, but became its own entity as a result of the expertise Wadsworth brought to the Medical Center.
In the interim between his graduation from the medical school and his return to the University, Wadsworth performed an internship at Bellevue Hospital in New York and served as an Army Air Corp flight surgeon during World War II. Following his military service, Wadsworth completed his residency at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital. He became a faculty member at Columbia University and maintained a private practice in New York.
William Anlyan, chancellor emeritus of the Medical Center and a member of the committee that hired Wadsworth in 1965, said Wadsworth's outstanding professional reputation at Columbia, combined with the success of his private practice, prompted administrators to recruit him for the University.
Wadsworth's success continued well into his tenure as chair of the ophthalmology department, Anlyan said, citing two of his major accomplishments-establishing and ensuring the success of the eye center and increasing the size of its faculty from three to about 25-as particularly indicative of his talents.
As chair of the department and an internationally recognized eye care specialist, Anylan continued, Wadsworth was a skilled leader "wearing his University hat as well as his Medical Center hat."
His son, Joseph Wadsworth, emphasized that patient treatment, not research, was the primary object of his father's attention. The renowned doctor, the younger Wadsworth said, wanted patients to believe that "not only did they receive the best medical care, but they were cared for as patients as well."
Wadsworth earned respect as a result of not only his medical accomplishments, but also his charisma. "He had a southern gentleness, but he was a man of action." said Ralph Snyderman, chancellor for health affairs. "He told you what was on his mind."
Following Wadsworth's retirement as chair of ophthalmology in 1983, Medical Center officials renamed the facility that houses the eye center the Joseph A. C. Wadsworth Building.
Despite his departure from the position he originated, Wadsworth continued making valuable contributions to the center. Snyderman pointed out as an example of his ongoing concern that the advising group to the center was created upon Wadsworth's suggestion. The group's purpose, he said, is to ensure the expansion and medical advancement of the center while maintaining its current medical values.
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