Honoring a Pulmonary Care Pioneer

Efforts are underway to honor beloved physician and mentor William Taliaferro Thompson Jr., M.D., by elevating the VCU School of Medicine’s W.T. Thompson Jr. Professorship in Pulmonary Medicine, created in 1986, to an endowed chair.  

Dr. Thompson, who died in 2002, earned his medical degree from MCV in 1938. He served as the William Branch Porter Professor of Medicine and chair of the Department of Medicine from 1959 until he retired in 1973. 

He was a legend in internal medicine for MCV, for the community, for Richmond.

Ghulam Qureshi, M.D., MCV Foundation board member

Keenly interested in pulmonary medicine, specifically respiratory failure, shortness of breath and altered pulmonary physiology in various lung diseases, Dr. Thompson was instrumental in shaping one of the earliest respiratory intensive care units in the country at MCV.  

“He was a strong administrator and more important, a visionary who could see things,” said Ghulam Qureshi, M.D., who arrived at MCV for an internship in 1965 and now serves as an MCV Foundation board member. He described Dr. Thompson as a mentor, teacher, guide and friend, and a caring leader who expanded the department’s eight divisions to twelve. “He was a legend in internal medicine for MCV, for the community, for Richmond,” Dr. Qureshi said. “He opened the door for all of us, and it’s important to celebrate his legacy by elevating the professorship to a chair. And in this way, his name will remain alive forever.”  

Alpha A. “Berry” Fowler, III, M.D., former chair of the Division of Pulmonary Disease and Critical Care Medicine, has held the professorship named for Dr. Thompson since 1994.  

An endowed chair is a mark of recognition, both for the honoree and the individual who fills it, as well as an incredibly important recruitment and retention tool.  

“Chairs are remarkable because they give you academic freedom, which is the key to innovation leading to grant opportunities, clinical trials and ultimately better care for all,” said Patricia Sime, M.D., chair of the department of Internal Medicine and the William Branch Porter Professor of Medicine. “Chairs give you protected time for the innovation you need to move the entire field of medicine forward.”  

If you’d like to contribute to efforts to elevate the W.T. Thompson Jr. Professorship in Pulmonary Medicine to a chair, please contact Brian Thomas, the foundation’s executive vice president and chief development officer, at 804-828-0067 or brian.thomas@vcuhealth.org.