William Smith Tillett (July 10, 1892 in

Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...

– April 4, 1974) was an American internist and microbiologist. He is best known for the discovery of

C-reactive protein C-reactive protein (CRP) is an annular (ring-shaped) pentameric protein found in blood plasma, whose circulating concentrations rise in response to inflammation. It is an acute-phase protein of hepatic origin that increases following interleukin-6 ...

and the

streptokinase Streptokinase (SK) is a thrombolytic medication activating plasminogen by nonenzymatic mechanism. As a medication it is used to break down clots in some cases of myocardial infarction (heart attack), pulmonary embolism, and arterial thromboemboli ...

. He was also a professor of

medicine Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pract ...

at the

New York University School of Medicine NYU Grossman School of Medicine is a medical school of New York University, a private research university in New York City. It was founded in 1841 and is one of two medical schools of the university, with the other being the Long Island School of ...

Early life

William was born in 1892 in

. He earned his A. B. from the

University of North Carolina The University of North Carolina is the multi-campus public university system for the state of North Carolina. Overseeing the state's 16 public universities and the NC School of Science and Mathematics, it is commonly referred to as the UNC Sy ...

in 1913 and later received his M. D. from the

Johns Hopkins Medical School The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (JHUSOM) is the medical school of Johns Hopkins University, a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1893, the School of Medicine shares a campus with the Johns Hopkins Hospi ...

in 1917. William started his academic career on the Johns Hopkins faculty. In 1937, he was designated as professor of bacteriology at N.Y.U.

Awards

* 1942

Honorary degree An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hono ...

from the

* 1949

Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research The Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research is one of the prizes awarded by the Lasker Foundation for a fundamental discovery that opens up a new area of biomedical science. The award frequently precedes a Nobel Prize in Medicine; almost 5 ...

, together with André Cournand and L. Royal ChristensenAlbert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award 1949 Winners
the

Lasker Foundation The Lasker Awards have been awarded annually since 1945 to living persons who have made major contributions to medical science or who have performed public service on behalf of medicine. They are administered by the Lasker Foundation, which was f ...

(laskerfoundation.org) accessed on June 26, 2012 * 1951 Member of the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...

* 1951 Honorary Doctorate from the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

* 1952 Borden Award * 1959 Honorary Doctorate of

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

References

External links

1892 births 1974 deaths People from Charlotte, North Carolina Recipients of the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences American internists American microbiologists Scientists from North Carolina {{US-physician-stub