Medical Education Records, (circa 1953-1959, 1970-1981)

This series contains lecture notes, course materials, administrative records, audiotapes, slides, and a videotape in connection with Dr. Wilson's work as a medical educator and medical school administrator at the University of Kansas (1953-1959), University of Missouri (1973-1974), and Vanderbilt University (1974-1981). Folders are arranged alphabetically and follow a hierarchical sequence so that records from each university affiliation are grouped together by appropriate subgroup within that affiliation (i.e., academic department, administrative committee, etc.). Records in this series do not cover the 1960s when Dr. Wilson was Dean and Director of the University of Missouri Medical Center and later, Vice President of Academic Affairs at the University of Missouri.

A group of records consists of a portion of Dr. Wilson's lecture notes while he was an Assistant Professor of Pharmacology at the University of Kansas School of Medicine in the 1950s. Another group covers records regarding Dr. Wilson's tenure as professor of community health and administrator at the University of Missouri from 1973 through 1974. Included are a fairly comprehensive set of course materials from a course taught by Dr. Wilson and titled, the "National Perspective," which focused on federal health policy. Among the background materials for the course are reports on national health insurance legislation considered by Congress in 1973 and 1974. A typed transcript of seminar sessions offers an insightful dialogue on national health issues of the period.

Stored in a separate container at the end of the series are audiovisual materials regarding an innovative six-year medical training program established at the Kansas City campus of the University of Missouri School of Medicine. The videotape contains the taping of a 1977 panel discussion, in which Dr. Wilson participated, regarding the successes and failures of the program as part of a symposium on the six-year degree (Medical training programs had traditionally consisted of approximately 8 years of undergraduate and graduate medical education. The Kansas City program was designed for students to receive a M.D. degree in six years after high school graduation. Emphasis was on training primary care physicians who would practice in the State of Missouri).

Records created as an integral part of Dr. Wilson's work as Vice Chancellor of Medical Affairs at Vanderbilt University constitute the last group in this series. A telephone log of Dr. Wilson's calls from 1975 through 1979 provides a comprehensive record of his day-to-day activities during the period. Of particular importance during the Vanderbilt years are a set of records regarding the establishment of the Meharry-Vanderbilt Center for Health Services Research and Policy Studies. Meharry Medical College, an historically black college located in Nashville, Tennessee, already had been engaged since 1969 in nationally-recognized studies of targeted populations at its Center for Health Care Research under the leadership of William Neser. As Vanderbilt's Vice Chancellor of Medical Affairs, Dr. Wilson had oversight of the Vanderbilt Center for Health Services Research and Policy Studies. Meharry and Vanderbilt jointly submitted a grant to the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW) to pool efforts and staff to meet the health care research and policy concerns of the surrounding region. The grant application, correspondence, and materials regarding HEW's site visit, and supporting material for a joint Ph.D./M.D. program provide valuable data about the proposed research center.

Restricted records in this series include an accreditation review by an AMA committee and student papers.