Saturday, January 01, 2000
Culbertson remembered as gifted surgeon
Helped develop department at UC
BY REBECCA BILLMAN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Dr. William R. Culbertson was recognized at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine as an outstanding teacher of surgical techniques and diagnoses, and throughout the Tristate as a gifted surgeon.
He “played a major role in the development of the department of surgery,” said Dr. Herbert C. Flessa, chairman of the Department of Internal Medicine and a close friend.
Dr. Culbertson died Tuesday after a long illness. The Hyde Park resident was 84. “Bill's death marks the end of an era in our surgical community,” Dr. Flessa said.
“To say my father's passing is a great personal loss would be selfish,” his son John of Hyde Park said. “The loss is to the medical profession and to the education of future practitioners in the techniques of surgery.”
In entering the profession, Dr. Culbertson followed in the footsteps of his father and two brothers.
The third son of William R. Culbertson, a family practitioner in rural Virginia, he accompanied his father on house calls where payment was often received in farm produce.
He graduated from Transylvania College in Lexington, Ky. in 1937 and the Vanderbilt University College of Medicine in 1941.
Following an internship at the St. Joseph Hospital in Lexington, Dr. Culbertson served in the Army Medical Corps from 1942 to 1946, advancing in rank from 1st lieutenant to major.
He served with the 34th Field Hospital in the European, African and South Pacific theaters.
Dr. Culbertson came to Cincinnati in summer 1946 to enter a surgical training program at Cincinnati General Hospital (now University Hospital).
He remained in Cincinnati as a member of the faculty of the College of Medicine, becoming professor of surgery in 1970 and professor emeritus in 1986. He continued to teach part time at the Veterans Administration Hospital until 1995.
Dr. Culbertson was the author or co-author of 50 publications dealing primarily with the diagnosis and man agement of surgical infections.
Dr. Flessa said that even while he was ailing, Dr. Culbertson maintained his interest in the college, eager for updates on students, residents and faculty.
In 1955 he became a diplomate of the American Board of Surgery. Dr. Culbertson was also a member of the American Surgical Association; Southern Surgical Association; Western Surgical Association; Central Surgical Association; American Medical Association and the Hamilton County Academy of Medicine, serving as its president in 1968 and 1969.
Dr. Culbertson was preceded in death by Mary, his wife of 25 years, in 1975.
He is survived by another son, Robert of Hyde Park.
A memorial service is 1 p.m. Tuesday at the Norman Chapel at Spring Grove Cemetery, 4521 Spring Grove Ave. in Winton Place.
Memorials can be made to the University of Cincinnati Foundation, SOFAR, College of Medicine, 231 Bethesda Ave. PO Box 67-555, Cincinnati 45267-0555 or Gifts for Medical Student Scholarships, Medical Center North, Vanderbilt University, D-3300, Nashville, Tenn. 37232-2104.
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