The Distinguished Faculty Research Award is presented annually to a faculty member whose research has made an impact on a broad field of science by contributing to the solution of a significant scientific problem, or whose work shows ingenuity and originality in the application of novel techniques to an important area of science. This year we are honoring:

Dr. William D. Willis, Jr. is a 1956 graduate of Texas A&M University with both a Bachelor of Science in Zoology and a Bachelor of Arts in English. He earned his M.D. in 1960 from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas and continued his studies to earn the Ph.D. from the Australian National University in 1963. His supervising professor was J. C. Eccles, 1963 Nobel Laureate in Physiology and Medicine. He continued his work in Italy as an NIH postdoctoral research fellow in the Institute of Physiology at the University of Pisa. The following year Dr. Willis returned to the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School where in 1964 he was named professor and chairman of the Department of Anatomy.

Dr. Willis joined the Marine Biomedical Institute at UTMB in 1970 as chief of the Division of Comparative Neurobiology. From 1978–2004, he served as the Director of the Marine Biomedical Institute. In 1986, he was pointed Ashbel Smith Professor and Chairman of the Department of Anatomy and Neurosciences, a position he held with great honor until 2004. Dr. Willis is professor and holder of the Cecil H. and Ida M. Green Distinguished University Chair. He continues a very active research program and teaching activities in both the School of Medicine and the Graduate School.

William D. Willis, Jr. M.D., Ph.D.
Professor of Neuroscience and Cell Biology
Cecil H. and Ida M. Green Distinguished Chair in Neuroscience

Dr. Willis’ research interest is in the better understanding of structure and function of the vertebrate spinal cord and brain stem, especially focusing on the neurobiology of pain and analgesia. For more than 40 years, he served as principal investigator and program director of numerous NIH research and training grants. He has published more than 300 peer-reviewed scientific papers, 30 reviews, 96 book chapters, 400 scientific meeting abstracts as well as several important books, which are classics and gold standard in the field of pain research.

In 2002, Willis was named by the Institute of Scientific Information as one of the worlds most highly cited authors (top 0.5 percent of all publishing authors), the first UTMB faculty member to achieve this honor. He has been invited to give more than 280 scientific presentations to peers in the U.S. and around the world. He has received numerous awards and honors including the Alexander von Humboldt Senior U.S. Scientist Award (1984–1985), the Jacob K. Javits Award (1985–1992) and the Bristol-Myers Squibb Award for Distinguished Achievement in Pain Research (1993). He was the inaugural recipient of a number of pain research awards, including the Frederick W. L. Kerr Memorial Award by the American Pain Society (1986) and the Purdue Pharma Prize for Pain Research (2002) to recognize outstanding contribution to pain research. Most recently, he was named the 2005 John J. Bonica Distinguished Lecture and Award recipient, an award created in honor of the founder of the International Association for the Study of Pain and the highest honor awarded by the society.

Dr. Willis’ extraordinary contributions are also reflected in his election to several important positions in the scientific community including president of the Society for Neuroscience, the Association of Neuroscience Departments and Program 1982-83, the Cajal Club (1982–1983) and the American Pain Society (1982–1983). He has been selected to a number of editorial boards and, most notably, served as chief editor of the Journal of Neurophysiology (1978–1983) and editor-in-chief of the Journal of Neuroscience (1993–1994).

Dr. Willis is an enthusiastic educator having supervised 21 Ph.D. students, eight masters students and 54 postdoctoral fellows and visiting scientists. He has received the Distinguished Teaching Award (UT Southwestern Medical School 1970), the Distinguished Teaching Award of the Graduate Student Organization (UTMB 1977 and 1999), The Dean of Medicine’s Teacher of the Year Award, (UTMB 1978) and the Alumni Appreciation Award for Excellence in Teaching (UTMB 1998).

- Back to Top -