William Montagna (born Guglielmo Montagna, 6 July 1913,

Roccacasale Roccacasale (locally ''La Rocca'') is a ''comune'' in the Province of L'Aquila in the Abruzzo region of Italy. Built on the slopes of the Monte della Rocca in the central Apennines, the village overlooks the Peligna Valley and the town of Sulmona ...

Abruzzo Abruzzo (, , ; nap, label=Neapolitan language, Abruzzese Neapolitan, Abbrùzze , ''Abbrìzze'' or ''Abbrèzze'' ; nap, label=Sabino dialect, Aquilano, Abbrùzzu; #History, historically Abruzzi) is a Regions of Italy, region of Southern Italy wi ...

, Italy – 16 November 1994,

Hillsboro, Oregon Hillsboro ( ) is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon and is the county seat of Washington County. Situated in the Tualatin Valley on the west side of the Portland metropolitan area, the city hosts many high-technology companies, ...

) was an Italian-American biologist, known for his anatomical work in

dermatology Dermatology is the branch of medicine dealing with the skin.''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary.'' Random House, Inc. 2001. Page 537. . It is a speciality with both medical and surgical aspects. A dermatologist is a specialist medical ...

Early life and education

In 1927 at the age of 13, Guglielmo Montagna, whose father was a skilled blacksmith, emigrated from Italy with his family to Buffalo, New York. At age 14 he became an American citizen and his first name was legally changed from "Guglielmo" to "William". In later years he recounted that his first year in the U.S.A. was difficult because "a scuola, non riuscivo a capire neppure una parole inglese" (at school I couldn't understand a single word of English). At Bethany College in West Virginia he graduated in 1936 with a bachelor's degree in biology and chemistry. At Cornell University he graduated in 1944 with a Ph.D. in zoology.

Career

From 1944 to 1945 Montagna was an instructor in ornithology and zoology. From 1945 to 1948 he was an assistant professor at the Long Island College of Medicine (now part of SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University). In 1948 he joined the faculty of Brown University. There he became a full professor in 1952 and L. Herbert Ballou University Professor of Biology in 1960. He left Brown University in 1963 to become a professor and head of experimental biology at

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

's Oregon Health Sciences University (now named the

Oregon Health & Science University Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) is a public research university focusing primarily on health sciences with a main campus, including two hospitals, in Portland, Oregon. The institution was founded in 1887 as the University of Oregon Medi ...

and director of Beaverton's Oregon Regional Primate Research Center (now named the

Oregon National Primate Research Center The Oregon National Primate Research Center (ONPRC) is one of seven federally funded National Primate Research Centers in the United States and has been affiliated with Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU) since 1998. The center is located ...

). He retired in 1980. He was the author or co-author of over 450 articles. For the academic year 1969–1970 Montagna was the president of the Society for Investigative Dermatology (SDI). In 1972 he received the SDI's Stephen Rothman Award for achievement in investigative dermatology. In 1975 SDI established the annual William Montagna Lecture and he was honored with the ''Ordine al merito della Repubblica Italiana''. At the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

's Department of Medicine, he gave the 1975 Wesley Spink Memorial Lecture, entitled ''Non-human primates in biomedical research''.

Personal life

On September 1, 1939 in

Canonsburg, Pennsylvania Canonsburg is a Borough (Pennsylvania), borough in Washington County, Pennsylvania, southwest of Pittsburgh. Canonsburg was laid out by Colonel John Canon in 1789 and incorporated in 1802. The population was 9,735 at the 2020 census. The town li ...

, William Montagna married Helen Fife (1916–2008). They had two daughters and two sons and divorced in 1975. William Montagna married his second wife in 1980. Montagna was a family friend of fellow Italian-American

Antonella Tosti Antonella Tosti is an Italian physician and scientist with major contributions in the field of dermatology, including developing dermoscopy for the diagnosis and care of hair diseases. Her contributions to knowledge about nails include research abou ...

whom he inspired in her youth to become a notable dermatologist as well.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Montagna, William 1913 births 1994 deaths 20th-century American biologists 20th-century Italian biologists American dermatologists American medical researchers Italian dermatologists Italian medical researchers Italian emigrants to the United States People from Abruzzo Expatriate academics in the United States Bethany College (West Virginia) alumni Cornell University alumni Brown University faculty Oregon Health & Science University faculty People from Hillsboro, Oregon