Over the past 40 years, many surgeon members of the Congenital Heart Surgeons’ Society (CHSS) with significant clinical responsibilities have volunteered their time to the CHSS’ research mission, either by participating in the design, execution, and analysis of cohort-based studies or by involvement in the overall management of the research organization. Perhaps no such dedication stands out more than the 29 years of service provided by Dr William G. Williams, MD, FRCSC. Beginning with his first CHSS article published in 1997 analyzing outflow tract obstruction after the arterial switch operation using data from the first CHSS cohort, Dr Williams led the transition of the CHSS research program from the University of Alabama to the Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) in Toronto. From 1998 onward, he managed and subsequently directed the “Data Center” (now the CHSS Center for Research and Quality, or “CRQ”).
Dr Williams (“Bill”) was born in the West End of Toronto. He attended Etobicoke Public High School, where he excelled on the high school varsity basketball team. He enrolled in the 6-year MD program at the University of Western Ontario, graduating in 1964. Bill’s father was an orthopedic surgeon who had a penchant for tinkering with surgical device design in their basement. Fascinated, Bill initially steered toward orthopedic surgery until attending informal seminars in his third year of medical school conducted by Dr. John Coles’ father. A passion for congenital cardiac surgery followed.
