Dr. Robert Willkens' Plaque Dedication
Dr. Robert Willken's Plaque Dedication was on July 9th, 2009 at Harborview Medical Center.
On the plaque, it reads:
"When I joined the Department of Medicine in 1958, there was no Division of Arthritis. As a matter of fact, as late as 1974 I gave a talk entitled “Who and what is a Rheumatologist?”
Many of you answered that question by your clinical and investigative activities that incorporated immunology, pharmacology, biochemistry, and genetics into the merging discipline of rheumatology.
Many of you are in fact role models and have attracted young physician scientists into this discipline. As outstanding members of this division, by your activities you have expanded the breadth of Rheumatology. You have helped to define those processes that lead to disease and disability.
I would like to mention you all by name and recite your accomplishments that have lead to better understanding and management of rheumatic disease. Your achievements have been incorporated in the literature and will be remembered in perpetuity.
I am immensely proud to have been associated with this division throughout my career and to have served the institution of HMC during this time. I admire and envy your continued involvement in this pursuit, for I anticipate further progress that will allow the cure of those disorders that we pioneers found so mysterious."
Dr. Robert F. Willkens, M.D.
October 26th, 2008