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Urology community mourns loss of Iowa's Dr. Williams
Richard D. Williams, MD, Rubin H. Flocks Professor and former chair of the University of Iowa department of urology, died May 28, 2010, at his home in Iowa City. He was 65.
Richard D. Williams, MD, Rubin H. Flocks Professor and former chair of the University of Iowa department of urology, died May 28, 2010, at his home in Iowa City. He was 65.
Dr. Williams will be remembered as a dedicated mentor, clinician, researcher, and volunteer.
"He was very caring about the patients and the faculty and residents," Karl J. Kreder, Jr, MD, MBA, interim head of the University of Iowa’s department of urology, told the Iowa City Press-Citizen. "He treated everybody that worked here like family. He was just a real good guy, a guy you’d like to have as your friend."
Dr. Williams completed his urology residency at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, in 1976, where he continued his postgraduate work as recipient of a National Kidney Foundation/American Urological Association fellowship while serving as instructor and assistant professor. He was selected as chief of urology at the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center in 1979, and became assistant professor and chief of urologic oncology at the University of California, San Francisco in 1983. In 1984, he was selected as professor and head of the University of Iowa department of urology, and in 1994 was the first recipient of the Rubin H. Flocks Chair in Urology.
Dr. Williams was most recently granted AUA’s 2009 Hugh Hampton Young Award in recognition of his contributions to the study of genitourinary disease. In 2005, he received the International Volunteers in Urology Humanitarianism Award for his missionary travels with the organization to Haiti.
Dr. Williams served in a leadership capacity for numerous professional organizations, authored more than 200 articles published in peer-reviewed journals, and served on the editorial board of many publications, including Urology Times, Urology, Urologic Oncology, and the Journal of Cancer Management and Research.
Dr. Williams is survived by his wife Beverly, daughter Wendy Williams Ellis, son-in-law Geoff Ellis, two grandchildren, his parents, and three sisters.
