Denis John Williams

Denis John Williams CBE FRCP (1908–1990) was a Welsh neurologist[1] and epileptologist.[2]

Denis John Williams
Born(1908-12-06)6 December 1908
Bangor, Gwynedd, Wales
Died26 November 1990(1990-11-26) (aged 81)
OccupationNeurologist

Biography

Denis Williams graduated from the University of Manchester with BSc in 1929, MB ChB in 1932, and MD in 1935.

In the mid-1930s he was awarded a Rockefeller travelling fellowship to Harvard University where he worked with Stanley Cobb and collaborated with Fred Gibbs in his pioneering work on the application of EEG to the study of cerebral disease. It was at this time that he developed his lasting interest in epilepsy.[1]

In 1936 Denis Williams returned and brought the first electroencephalograph machine that was used regularly for clinical work in the UK.[1] He qualified MRCP in 1937 and graduated MSc in 1938. During WWII he became a squadron leader in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve and worked at the Military Hospital for Head Injuries[3] under Charles Symonds, who was knighted in 1946. Williams graduated DSc in 1942 and was elected FRCP in 1943.[1] Symonds and Williams published in 1943 Clinical and Statistical Study of Neurosis Precipitated by Flying Duties.[4] Williams was promoted to wing commander before demobilisation.

He was appointed in 1946 physician to the National Hospital for Nervous Diseases and to St George’s Hospital.[1] In the late 1940s he was a mentor to Basil Gerald Parsons-Smith.[5] In 1951 Williams was appointed Civil Consultant in Neurology and Electroencephalography to the RAF.[6] In 1955 he gave the Bradshaw Lecture[7] and was appointed CBE. He retired from St George's Hospital in 1968 and from the National Health Service in 1974. In 1971 he was a founder trustee of the Brain Research Trust. For a number of years he was the editor of Brain: A Journal of Neurology.[1]

He had married Joyce, daughter of Frank Beverley Jewson, in 1936. She was herself a qualified medical practitioner and a Justice of the Peace. They had four children; two sons and two daughters. One son predeceased him.[1]

See also

List of Welsh medical pioneers

Selected publications

References
  1. "Denis John Williams". Munk's Roll, Volume IX, Lives of the Fellows, Royal College of Physicians.
  2. Williams, Denis (22 March 1958). "Modern Views on the Classification of Epilepsy". Br Med J. 1 (5072): 661–663. doi:10.1136/bmj.1.5072.661. PMC 2028225. PMID 13510762.
  3. Williams, Denis (1941). "The significance of an abnormal electroencephalogram". J Neurol Psychiatry. 4 (3–4): 257–268. doi:10.1136/jnnp.4.3-4.257. PMC 1089790. PMID 21611396.
  4. Symonds CP, Williams DJ (1943). Clinical and Statistical Study of Neurosis Precipitated by Flying Duties – Flying Personnel Research Committee Report 547. London: Medical Research Council. (republished as Chapter X in Air Publication 3139 (1947). London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office)
  5. "Basil Gerald Parsons-Smith". Munk's Roll, Volume X, Lives of the Fellows, Royal College of Physicians.
  6. "Featured Neurologist: Denis John Williams (1908–1990)". Dictionary of Neurology Project, The Neuro Times: a blog about neurology and neuroscience, dictionaryofneurology.com. 26 March 2011.
  7. Williams, Denis (1 March 1956). "The structure of emotions reflected in epileptic experiences". Brain. 79 (1): 29–67. doi:10.1093/brain/79.1.29.
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