James Taggart Priestley II (April 7, 1903 – February 9, 1979) was a senior surgeon at the Mayo Clinic and a pioneer of

pancreatectomy In medicine, a pancreatectomy is the surgical removal of all or part of the pancreas. Several types of pancreatectomy exist, including pancreaticoduodenectomy (Whipple procedure), distal pancreatectomy, segmental pancreatectomy, and total pancr ...

Biography

At the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

, he graduated with a B.A. in 1923, and an M.D. in 1926. From 1926 to 1928 he was a medical intern in surgery at the

Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP) is the flagship hospital of Penn Medicine and is located in the University City section of West Philadelphia. It is consistently ranked as one of the top hospitals in the United States. Histor ...

. As a fellow in surgery at the Mayo Medical School (now known as the

Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine The Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine (MCASOM), formerly known as Mayo Medical School (MMS), is a research-oriented medical school based in Rochester, Minnesota, with additional campuses in Arizona and Florida. MCASOM is a school within the May ...

), he earned an M.Sc. in experimental surgery in 1931, followed by a Ph.D. in surgery in 1932. At the Mayo Clinic, he became a staff member in 1933 and the head of a section of surgery in 1934, retaining the post for then next 34 years. During World War II, he served as an officer in the Medical Corps of the U.S. Army. Priestley was awarded the Bronze Star Medal and the

oak leaf cluster An oak leaf cluster is a ribbon device to denote preceding decorations and awards consisting of a miniature bronze or silver twig of four oak leaves with three acorns on the stem. It is authorized by the United States Armed Forces for a speci ...

for his services during the war. At the Mayo Clinic he was appointed senior surgeon in 1963 and retired in 1968. He wrote surgical reports with his colleagues, including Edward Starr Judd (1878–1935), Waltman Walters (1895–1988), Howard Kramer Gray (1910–1955), and John M. Waugh (1905–1962). Priestley was a coauthor of several surgical textbooks, including ''Cancer of the Stomach'' (1964, W. B. Saunders). For one year from 1953 to 1954, Priestley was the president of the Central Surgical Association, which was founded in 1941. In April 1965 the Mayo Clinic Surgical Society in Honor of James T. Priestley was formed by his former residents and fellows at Mayo Clinic. In 1967 he was appointed an honorary Fellow of the

Royal College of Surgeons of England The Royal College of Surgeons of England (RCS England) is an independent professional body and registered charity that promotes and advances standards of surgical care for patients, and regulates surgery and dentistry in England and Wales. T ...

. In 1930 James T. Priestley, a descendant of

Joseph Priestley Joseph Priestley (; 24 March 1733 – 6 February 1804) was an English chemist, natural philosopher, separatist theologian, grammarian, multi-subject educator, and liberal political theorist. He published over 150 works, and conducted exp ...

, married Klea Kirkman Palica (1907–2000). Upon his death from a heart attack while on vacation, he was survived by his widow, three daughters, a son, and twelve grandchildren. James Taggart Priestley was named after his paternal grandfather and named his own son James Taggart Priestley III.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Priestley, James Taggart 1903 births 1979 deaths 20th-century American physicians American surgeons 20th-century surgeons Physicians of the Mayo Clinic University of Pennsylvania alumni United States Army personnel of World War II United States Army Medical Corps officers