25

amniocentesis.32 Alongside these activities, in 1970 the Department started to offer electronic fetal monitoring. After serving as chair for close to 11 years, and leading the Department through a period of marked growth, Willson was ready to resign in 1975. He had fought many battles and was facing health struggles.33 Willson was also “convinced that as we entered a new era of medical education and practice, a change in leadership [was] essential.” 34 He wanted the Department to find an inventive leader ready to move the Department into a new era of “medical education, patient care and research.” 35 29. Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, Annual Report, July 1, 1969-June 30, 1970, Willson Papers, Box 3, BHL, UM. 30. Willson to Dean John A. Gronvall, August 12, 1974, Willson Papers, Box 3, BHL, UM. 31. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Obstetric Service, Annual Report: Calendar 1973, Willson Papers, Box 3, BHL, UM. 32. Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, Annual Report, July 1, 1970-June 30, 1971, Willson Papers, Box 3, BHL, UM; on the amniocentesis registry and study see Alexandra Minna Stern, Telling Genes: The Story of Genetic Counseling in America (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2012), chap. 7. 33. Interview with Wallace Jeffries by Alexandra Minna Stern, June 11, 2014. 34. Willson to Dean John A. Gronvall, July 30, 1975, Willson Papers, Box 2, BHL, UM. 35. ibid.. 40 Obstetrics and Gynecology In summer 1975, Willson’s hope was to conclude his chairmanship at the end of calendar year 1976. 36 The search to replace him, however, was protracted and put the Department in a state of limbo. Ultimately, Willson did not transition out until 1978, when he put his foot down, clarifying in no uncertain terms that he could “no longer” tolerate his “position as a lame duck chairman.” He minced no words when he told the dean in July 1978 that he was dismayed at what he had seen over the past several years, “I have watched helplessly as the Department has progressively disintegrated from one of the best Departments in the country to what now must be one of the worst.” 37 He admonished the dean for lacking the skill and acumen to hire a new chair, and warned that unless his recommendations were followed, “you can anticipate wholesale resignation of faculty members and house officers and complete destruction of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology.” 38 Although nothing nearly so dire developed, the last several years of Willson’s chairmanship were strained by less than cordial communication with the Medical School administration and a few failed attempts to find his replacement. When Willson finally resigned, Morley became interim chair, serving admirably as the Department awaited the installation of Alan Beer the following May. 39 The Unsettled 1980s After Beer was chosen as the next chair, Willson expressed relief that someone of such high caliber would fill his shoes.40 Beer was based in the Department of Cell Biology at the University of Texas Health Science Center in Dallas, Texas.41 He presided over a department that had 17 faculty members, seven M.D.s and five Ph.D.s in Ann Arbor and five M.D.s at Wayne County General Hospital.42 THE ROLE OF THE OB/GYN AS AN ADVOCATE FOR WOMEN’S HEALTH 1. Obstetricians-Gynecologists have an ethical duty to be advocates for women’s health care. As members of a learned profession, they have a body of knowledge that includes sexual and reproductive health.