William T. Fitts, Jr., MD
October 6, 1915 - June 17, 1984
William T. Fitts, Jr. was born on October 6, 1915, in Jackson, Tennessee. He received his A.B. degree from Union University in Jackson in 1937 and his M.D. degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1940. He was an intern resident, Harrison Fellow in Surgical Research, Rockefeller Foundation Fellow in Surgery and Instructor in Surgery at the University of Pennsylvania from 1940-1942 and from 1945-1947. From 1942-1945, he was a Surgical Ward Officer in the Affiliated Unit of the University of Pennsylvania, the 20th General Hospital, in the China-Burma-India Theatre of World War II. He became an Assistant Professor of Surgery in 1949, Associate Professor of Surgery in 1952, and was John Rhea Barton Professor of Surgery and Chairman, Department of Surgery, University of Pennsylvania, from 1972-1975. He spent his entire career at the University of Pennsylvania.
Because of his long service to the organization, the Fitts Lecture was established by the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma in 1974 and first presented by Curtis P. Artz, M.D. at the 35th AAST Meeting in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Past William T. Fitts Jr., M.D. Lecture Recipients
| 2026 | Martin Croce, MD | Memphis, TN |
| 2025 | Brian Eastridge, MD | San Antonio, TX |
| 2024 | Michael F. Rotondo, MD | Rochester, NY |
| 2023 | J. Wayne Meredith, MD | Winston-Salem, NC |
| 2022 | David V. Feliciano, MD | Edgewater, MD |
| 2021 | Tribute to J. David Richardson, MD | Louisville, KY |
| 2020 | Postponed for COVID-19 Pandemic | |
| 2019 | Timothy C. Fabian, MD | Memphis, TN |
| 2018 | C. William Schwab, MD | Philadelphia, PA |
| 2017 | Ronald Maier, MD | Seattle, WA |
| 2016 | M. Margaret Knudson, MD | San Francisco, CA |
| 2015 | L.D. Britt, MD, MPH | Norfolk, VA |
| 2014 | Ronald G. Tompkins, MD | Boston, MA |
| 2013 | Frank R. Lewis, Jr, MD | Philadelphia, PA |
| 2012 | David B. Hoyt, MD | Chicago, IL |
| 2011 | H. Leon Pachter, MD | New York, NY |
| 2010 | Charles N. Mock, MD, PhD, MPH | Seattle, WA |
| 2009 | Frederick P. Rivara, MD, MPH | Seattle, WA |
| 2008 | Charles E. Lucas, MD | Detroit, MI |
| 2007 | Thomas M. Scalea, MD | Baltimore, MD |
| 2006 | Sten E.V. Lennquist, MD, PhD | Linkoping, Sweden |
| 2005 | Sylvia D. Campbell, MD | Tampa, FL |
| 2004 | Colonel John Holcomb, MD | Ft. Sam Houston, TX |
| 2003 | Ellen J. MacKenzie, PhD | Baltimore, MD |
| 2002 | C. James Carrico, MD | Dallas, TX |
| 2001 | Janet Reno | Washington, DC (Cancelled) |
| 2000 | Johannes A. Sturm, MD | Hannover, Germany |
| 1999 | Barbara Barlow, MD | New York, NY |
| 1998 | Leonard Evans, PhD | Warren, MI |
| 1997 | George F. Sheldon, MD | Chapel Hill, NC |
| 1996 | Susan P. Baker, MPH | Baltimore, MD |
| 1995 | Jonathan E. Rhoads, MD | Philadelphia, PA |
| 1994 | John R. Border, MD | Buffalo, NY |
| 1993 | John H. Davis, MD | Burlington, VT |
| 1992 | Basil A. Pruitt, Jr, MD | Ft. Sam Houston, TX |
| 1991 | Donald D. Trunkey, MD | Portland, OR |
| 1990 | Philip R. Lee, MD | San Francisco, CA |
| 1989 | Prof. Martin Allgower, MD | Switzerland |
| 1988 | Roderick A. Little, MD | Manchester, United Kingdom |
| 1987 | Paul Dudley Hart | Woods Hole, MA |
| 1986 | Sheng Chih-Yong, MD | Woods Hole, MA |
| 1985 | Donald P. Becker, MD | Los Angeles, CA |
| 1984 | F. William Blaisdell, MD | Sacramento, CA |
| 1983 | Col. Robert Scott, L/RAMC | London, England |
| 1982 | Thomas W. Langfitt, MD | Philadelphia, PA |
| 1981 | John W. Kinney, MD | New York, NY |
| 1980 | Carl T. Brighton, MD | Philadelphia, PA |
| 1979 | Mr. Peter S London | Birmingham, England |
| 1978 | Lloyd D. MacLean, MD | Montreal, Quebec, Canada |
| 1977 | G. Tom Shires, MD | New York, NY |
| 1976 | Francis D. Moore, MD | Boston, MA |
| 1975 | Curtis P. Artz, MD | Charleston, SC |