OF NOTE
Celebrating the Life of Dr. Marcelle Willock
Dr. Marcelle M. Willock, the first female Dean of Charles Drew University College of Medicine and Science where she retired in 2005, passed away on October 12, 2022 from complications after emergency surgery while visiting relatives in Toronto, Canada. She was 84. An advocate for civil rights and diversity, she collaborated with many programs addressing health care disparities and the fair treatment of minorities.
Dr. Willock was Professor Emerita of Anesthesiology, Chair of the Department from 1982 to 1998, at Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine. While serving in the former University Hospital and Boston City Hospital( now Boston Medical Center), Dr. Willock had a number of noteworthy accomplishments, including accrediting the anesthesia residency program and modernizing the administration of anesthetics.
She was responsible for standardizing guidelines related to patient safety and for introducing pulse oximetry, capnography and transesophageal echocardiography, among other innovations, into operating rooms. In the early 1980s, dentists were still providing anesthesia at Boston City Hospital. One of her most remarkable actions was to end this practice and to assure that only qualified physician anesthesiologists could provide anesthesia care following the care team model promulgated by the American Society of
Anesthesiologists.
She served on innumerable committees on the Boston University Medical Campus, was president of the Massachusetts Society of Anesthesiologists, president of the Society of Academic Chairs, and held a variety of leadership positions within the American Society of Anesthesiologists. She also served as president of the Louis and Martha Deveaux Foundation, a charitable organization in the Republic of Panama founded by her grandparents.
Dr. Willock also was a consultant for the Federal Bureau of Investigation( FBI) and a member of the Board of Directors for the Boston Police Athletic League. She worked in the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in New York City and served as a trustee for the College of New Rochelle.
Dr. Willock remained a vibrant and engaged member of the faculty at Boston University, attending lectures and interacting with students, residents and attendings before falling ill. She was among the first women of color to lead an academic and clinical department in the United States and the first Black woman to achieve emeritus status at Boston University.
Senior Associate Dean of the MD Program, Dr. Arthur Gomez, is the recipient of UCLA’ s Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion 2022 Trailblazer Award.
CDU College of Medicine | PG. 37