In Memoriam
William Stewart, M.D.
Dr. William Stewart, who died in November 2011, was the first faculty member Dr. Richard Moy recruited in July 1971. Dr. Stewart established SIU School of Medicine’s first department: Family Medicine. “We knew early on that we wanted a strong family medicine program,” Dr. Moy says.
Dr. Stewart was integral to the hiring of other department chairs, and he helped develop the three-year residency program, one of just 10 in the nation at that time. Five family practice residency programs were established (a Metro East program has since closed). He left the school in September 1980.
In a 2007 interview with Aspects Editor Karen Carlson, Dr. Stewart recalled: “I was so excited by Dr. Moy’s ideas to train more general practitioners, have medical students see patients early to correlate basic science with clinical knowledge and put doctors in rural areas. When I was in
medical school, I didn’t see an M.D. until the third year. We were taught by Ph.D’s who taught us things that weren’t relevant to medicine.”
Dr. Stewart helped create the curriculum “not memorizing facts, but making sense, combining clinical and basic sciences” and revolutionized the way students tested. “Students had to relate to the patient beyond the physical illness. That had never been part of medical training. As a result, our students were happier than most medical students –– learning why they need to know this instead of just memorizing it.”
Dr. Stewart was on committees that approved some of the residency programs and evaluated SOM programs. He recalled with great joy his time at SIU School of Medicine. “I never had such a good time doing something so new and different and good.”
Dr. Stewart retired in 1991 as the chairman of the Department of Community Health and Family Medicine at the University of Florida College of Medicine. When he retired, he continued to volunteer in a free clinic
for several years.