(Contributed by Dr Colin F Speirs )
William (Bill) Holloway graduated MD at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in1948. After internships at Delaware Hospital he was conscripted as a captain in the US Army Medical Corps in Korea from 1952-1954. After his army service he became a specialist in infectious diseases. He was founder and Director of the Infectious Disease Laboratory for Christiana Care Health System at Wilmington Medical Center, Delaware where he was also Senior Attending Physician. An annual Infectious Diseases Symposium which he initiated in 1963 is still thriving. Virtually all new antibacterial drugs developed during the 1960s were assessed in his laboratory and clinic thus he became an authority on the most appropriate treatment for a wide range of infections.
He and his team presented data on one or more drugs at the International Congress on Antimicrobial and Chemotherapy which was held each year in a different country. At these meetings he met James Murdoch, Senior Consultant in Infectious Diseases at Edinburgh City Hospital, whose unit was also studying new antibiotics. Close collaboration existed between Edinburgh and Wilmington for many years. Senior Registrars from Edinburgh were invited to speak at the annual Wilmington Symposium and Interns spent some time in Edinburgh. Dr Holloway was elected FRCP Edin in 1989.
At a time when few new antibiotics were being developed, the HIV/AIDS epidemic began. Bill Holloway became principal investigator for Christiana Care’s HIV Community Program and was also an advisor to the US government.
He had more than 200 research publications and gave as many lectures on his expertise worldwide.
Professional memberships included the American College of Physicians for which he was a Master and Governor for the State of Delaware from 1988-1992. He was also a Fellow of the Infectious Disease Society of America and a past president of the Delaware Academy of Medicine, the State Board of Medical Examiners and the Delaware Lung Association.
Dr Holloway was also a respected, caring physician for the Wilmington Community.