A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE WESTERN ASSOCIATION OF PHYSICIANS

Meetings

In 1955, Dr. Robert H. Williams, the Chair of the Department of Medicine at the University of Washington a meeting of 5 other eminent physicians to discuss establishing the society and its goals. The idea was to establish in the West a regional society roughly analogous to the Association of American Physicians. The group met annually to discuss qualifications for memberships in the WAP and general plans for the structure of programs.

As the key founder, Robert Williams served as President for the initial meeting in 1956. The first Presidential Address was given by Dr. Maxwell Wintrobe, and these addresses continued to be given through subsequent years. Dr. Wade Volwiler's Presidential Address in 1966 entitled "Western Association of Physicians: Evolutions and Challenge," and Dr. Edmund Bierman's address in 1981 are applauded as the best current sources of the founding of the WAP and the progress during its early days.

Initially meetings were closed and no abstracts were published. Beginning in 1981, however, abstracts were required for paper submissions. Eventually the meetings merged with those of the other Western societies that are devoted to biomedical research (WSCI, etc).

Structure

Bylaws were approved in 1969. In 1979 the Association became tax exempt and has since been registered in Washington State.

Annual Lectures

The Western Association of Physicians has a long history of distinguished annual lectureships. This tradition began in 1971 when the Hyland Laboratories began to sponsor lectures with $1,000.000 annual donations. The Hyland Labs sponsorship of the lectures ended in 1974.

In 1975, Dr. Holly Smith secured support from The Kroc Foundation for an annual distinguished lecture. The Kroc Lecture continued annually with a $1000 donation. In 1985, Dr. Robert Kroc donated $15,000 to endow the lectureship.

The Kaiser Family Foundation endowed a lecture on Health Policy from 1981 through 1989 with a gift of $1,500 per year.

In 1987 the Western Association requested donations of $100 from its members and raised $14,703 to endow a Western Association lecture. The first lecture was given in 1990.