Key figure in UW medical school dies
Published 10:05 pm Wednesday, November 21, 2007
SEATTLE — Dr. James W. Haviland, co-founder of an early, out-of-hospital kidney dialysis center and a leader in the development of the University of Washington School of Medicine, has died at age 96, the university said Wednesday.
Born in Glen Falls, N.Y., on July 18, 1911, Haviland died of natural causes in his home in Bremerton on Nov. 14.
He completed medical school and his residency training at Johns Hopkins University. He worked in state government at what was then the departments of Social Security and Health before serving in the U.S. Naval Reserve and then going into private practice in Seattle.
In the late 1940s, at the inception of the University of Washington School of Medicine, Haviland served as a liaison between the school and the Washington State Medical Association.
He went on to serve as assistant dean from 1949 to 1953, working to bring community doctors and the new school together. Then in 1953, he became acting dean, playing a role in the design, construction and financing of University Hospital, which is now know as the UW Medical Center.
Haviland returned to the university in the 1970s, as a professor and also in several administrative jobs, while maintaining his private practice.
“In all of his activities, he enriched, united and inspired the culture and community of medicine. He was a man of vision, action and dedication,” said Dr. Paul Ramsey, chief executive of UW Medicine as well as dean of the School of Medicine.
In 1962, Haviland and Dr. Belding Scribner co-founded the Seattle Artificial Kidney Center, which is known today as the Northwest Kidney Centers.
“Dr. Haviland not only founded our organization 45 years ago, remarkably he stayed active with us until the present. His deep commitment to community collaboration and innovation continues to influence us today,” said Joyce F. Jackson, president and chief executive of the Northwest Kidney Centers.
A celebration of his life has been scheduled for Dec. 3 at the UW Health Sciences Center.
