William C. McNeill, M.D., was a distinguished educator and physician whose career was marked by dedicated service in both the academic and medical communities. Born in 1878 as one of ten children on a farm in North Carolina, McNeill moved to Washington, D.C., in 1897 to attend Howard Academy, the preparatory school for Howard University. He worked his way through Howard University School of Medicine as a typist and stenographer, where he also served as the secretary for Dr. Furman Shadd, the secretary of the school. After graduating in 1904, McNeill set up a private practice in Washington, D.C. That practice lasted for more than fifty years. In 1905, McNeill was appointed the first assistant surgeon at the Freedmen’s Hospital. After Shadd resigned from the medical school, he became the school’s secretary-treasurer in 1908. During this time, McNeill became a professor of gynecology, where he also served as the head of the gynecological ward at Freedmen’s and the director of the gynecological clinic. In 1911, he spearheaded a campaign to shore up funds to improve the school’s standards and to meet the requirements set forth by the Association of American Medical Colleges. Raising more than $250,000, he presented the school’s […]