William H. Marshall (1933-), physician, professor and director of Postgraduate Medical Education, Memorial University of Newfoundland, was born in London, England, on 10 April 1933, the son of Dr. Leslie Phillips Marshall and Dr. Catherine Mary Marshall (nee Hext). In September 1961 in Hildesheim, Germany, Dr. Marshall married Ingeborg Constanze Luise Ristow, an archaeologist/anthropologist who wrote A History and Ethnography of the Beothuk, an authoritative work on the Beothuk Indians. They had three children, Alfred, Christopher, and Mary-Anne.

Dr. Marshall grew up in Somerset, England, where he went to preparatory school at age eight, followed by boarding school from age thirteen to eighteen. He next attended Cambridge University to study natural sciences (covering subjects such as physiology, anatomy and biochemistry), and graduated with a B.A. (1954). He continued his education at the London Hospital Medical College with three years of clinical training and graduated with an M.B. (1957). At that time, medical students, who had graduated in the UK, were required to complete a house job, which was divided into medicine and surgery, for at least one year before they could become a licensed physician. Dr. Marshall held a variety of house jobs focusing on cardiology and neurosurgery, and after three years experience wrote the Membership of the Royal College of Physicians examination obtaining his MRCP (1961). Dr. Marshall went on to Cambridge University to begin work on his M.D. thesis. Under the guidance of Dr. Kenneth Roberts, he undertook a thesis project on human blood lymphocytes, the beginning of his involvement with immunology. He graduated from Cambridge University with an M.D. (1965). Dr. Marshall next attended Melbourne University, Australia and earned a Ph.D. (1966).

Dr. Marshall held a variety of medical appointments while completing his education. He held several positions at the London Hospital including: house officer, (1957-1958); junior registrar, Morbid Anatomy Department (1958-1959); junior registrar, Out-Patient Department (1959-1960); and junior registrar, Clinical Pathology Department (1960-1961). He next held a position as junior lecturer, physiology, The London Hospital Medical College (1961-1963). Following the completion of his M.D., Dr. Marshall felt it was time to travel abroad and gain experience outside the United Kingdom. He wrote to Sir Frank Macfarlane Burnet, director of the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute for Medical Research in Melbourne, Australia, to say that he was interested in furthering his clinical experience in immunology through work at the clinic.  His offer was accepted, and he was appointed assistant physician, Clinical Research Unit (1963-1966) and research fellow, Cancer Research Unit, the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute for Medical Research (1966).   Following his time in Australia, Dr. Marshall accepted a postdoctoral position at New York University Medical Centre and was appointed research associate, Department of Medicine, New York University Medical Centre (1966-1968). While working at the New York University Medical Centre, Dr. Marshall was approached by Dr. Kenneth Roberts, Associate Dean of Medicine, with an offer to join the Faculty of Medicine in the new medical school at Memorial University of Newfoundland.

Dr. Marshall began his career at Memorial University when he accepted the position as Director of Postgraduate Medical Education, Faculty of Medicine, on 1 September, 1968. This appointment was the first of several positions he was to hold in the Faculty of Medicine. Within a short period, Dr. Marshall was also appointed secretary of the Curriculum Committee.

Dr. Marshall and eleven other appointed faculty members shared teaching and research space in the small temporary buildings where the new Medical School was located. Despite the limitations of the new facilities, by October of 1968 he had established a course in clinical sciences that consisted of a series of lectures by Memorial University faculty and visiting medical persons designed to keep postgraduate doctors up-to-date with advances in scientific disciplines, such as physiology, biochemistry and experimental pathology.

Dr. Marshall was also the first Associate Professor of Immunology. The task of establishing research facilities fell to him, and at his suggestion the school established a clinical immunology diagnostic laboratory. Dr. Marshal became its permanent director and directed the new facility in addition to his teaching and other administrative duties.  Dr. Marshall retired in 1998.

As well as an instructor and administrator, Dr. Marshall was an extremely accomplished researcher. He received many research grants, some of which included: a $6,500 grant towards expenses of the research project: “An Attempt to Develop a Single Cell Assay for Cellular Immunity,” awarded by the National Sanitarium Association in 1970. The Medical Research Council awarded Dr. Marshall a grant-in-aid of the research project: “A Formal Test of the Specificity of Lawrence’s Transfer Factor,” for the amount of $22,000 (1971-1972). The following year the Medical Research Council awarded Dr. Marshal, collaboratively with Dr. John H. Brooks, a $46,350 grant for their research project: “A Critical Examination of the Lymphocytes of Schizophrenic Patients,” (1973-74).

In 1972 the National Cancer Institute of Canada awarded Dr. Marshall a grant of $9,620, which was renewed the following two years, for a research project entitled: “Macrophage Precursors in the Blood of Patients with Cancer.” In 1976, he was awarded a National Institute of Canada grant totaling $25,472 for a study of the immunological factors in the pathogenesis of lymphoma. Memorial University recognized his accomplishments by rewarding him and Dr. Thomas Michalak the $25,000 Dr. A. R. Cox Award for their joint project on the hepatitis B virus. Dr. Michalak and Dr. Marshall combined their skills to develop monoclonal antibodies to the major T-lymphocyte determinant of the woodchuck.

In addition to his research, Dr. Marshall also supervised the thesis efforts of various medical students. 

Dr. and Mrs. Marshall presently reside in St. John’s, Newfoundland.