Cardiologist William C. Roberts remembered as a ‘true legend in cardiovascular medicine’

“As the chief of pathology at the National Institutes of Health, he developed the unique ability to relate pathological observations to clinical cardiology, and in the process brought cardiology to pathology,” Maron wrote. “This was at the beginning of the open-heart surgical era, and it is not an exaggeration to credit Roberts with establishing a foundation for the pathology of cardiac surgery. Easily forgotten is that before Roberts, pathologists rarely navigated into territory beyond the realm of anatomical findings.”

Roberts also had an “unmatched expertise,” Maron said, which the veteran cardiologist shared at clinical-pathological teaching conferences over the course of his long career.

“These sessions provided trainees with the unique opportunity to examine cardiac anatomy along with insights from Robert–specimen by specimen, often identifying unexpected clinically relevant abnormalities,” Maron wrote.

Roberts contributed to more than 1,600 academic articles in his career and hosted the Williamsburg Conference on Heart Disease in Virginia for 46 years. He also served in a variety of roles for the American College of Cardiology (ACC) and American Heart Association (AHA), receiving the ACC’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2016.

“To say Bill Roberts will be missed is a massive understatement,” Maron concluded.

Click here to read the full tribute in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.