Daniel Whitacre Elliott, MD (August 5, 1922 – August 1, 2004) was born in Greenville, Ohio. He studied pre-med at the Ohio State University from 1941-43 and graduated from Yale University School of Medicine in 1949. He completed his internship at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in New York City (1949-51) and his surgical residency training at Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio (1951, 1953-57). He served as a chief surgical resident at Children’s Hospital in Columbus (1955-56) and at the University Hospital (1956-57). While at OSU, he trained under Dr. Robert Zollinger. During his training, Elliott served in the military as a Medical Corpsman, PFC (1943-46) during World War II and as Captain in the US Air Force Reserve (1951-53) during the Korean War.
After training, Elliott joined the faculty at Ohio State as Assistant Professor (1957-59), Associate Professor (1959-63) and Professor (1963-64). He also held the title of Director of Surgical Research Laboratories (1961-64). He then moved to the University of Pittsburgh where he served as Clinical Professor (1964-71) and Professor of Surgery (1971-1976). In Pittsburgh, he was the Chief of Surgical Service first at the Western Pennsylvania Hospital and then at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center from 1971-76. In 1976, Elliott was lured to the brand new medical school at Wright State University. He served as Professor and Chair from 1976-1988, and was appointed Professor Emeritus in 1988. During the same time, Elliott served as Program Director of the WSU Integrated Surgical Residency Program.
Elliott was certified by the American Board of Surgery in 1958, was elected to fellowship in the American College of Surgeons in 1960, and was elected to membership in Alpha Omega Alpha while a medical student at Yale. He is a member of many medical and surgical organizations, including the American Surgical Association, Society of University Surgeons and the Central Surgical Association, which he served as President in 1987. Editorial board involvement has included The American Journal of Surgery (1958-97) and The American Surgeon (1961-87).
Elliott was recruited to the WSU School of Medicine by the Department of Surgery’s original steering committee. Quickly, he won the support from the local community for a surgical department. He developed the clerkship curriculum with the voluntary faculty for the first class entering in 1976. Under his capable leadership, an integrated surgical residency program was formed from the four existing programs at Kettering Medical Center, Good Samaritan Hospital, the Dayton Veterans Affairs Medical Center, and Miami Valley Hospital. St. Elizabeth Medical Center (now Franciscan Medical Center), Wright-Patterson AFB Medical Center and the Children’s Medical Center supported the integration. He advocated the concept that surgical education has spread beyond the great academic medical centers and made that a reality in the City of Dayton. He ascribed to the philosophy that full-time faculty and voluntary faculty can work in a partnership to educate residents and students. His Central Surgical Association presidential address supported that belief. It was entitled “Outsiders in Surgical Education or Are the Voluntary Faculty Worth More Than They Are Paid?” He answered his question with a resounding “yes!”
The Department of Surgery is fortunate to have our solid foundation built by such an outstanding educator and administrator. Today, much of the department’s success can be attributed to the good decisions made in the early days. The idea for a forum for the residents to present their original work was developed by Elliott. In 1987, he invited Hiram Polk, MD to listen to the first presentations. In 1988, the program was officially launched as the Resident Research Symposium and Olga Jonasson, MD was the first official guest judge. Each year, residents present their original research findings in front of their peers, faculty and other interested guests. In February 1998, the Department of Surgery Executive Committee unanimously approved naming this event the Dan W. Elliott, MD Resident Research Symposium.
Elliott was married to Elizabeth Wolff Elliott. They had two children, James and Lisa.
The Daniel W. Elliott, MD Papers (3 linear feet) contains material related to his medical career.
This related collection is part of the Medical Heritage Center’s holdings:
Robert M. Zollinger, MD Papers, Spec.199301.Zollinger
This collection is arranged in three series:
Series I: Oversized (2 boxes) contains oversized a wooden box with note cards of talks, audio cassette tapes of talks, and photographs and slides. This series is arranged by item.
Series II: Correspondence (1 box) contains letters to/from Elliott. This series is arranged by date.
Series III: Publications (2 boxes) contains writings authored by Elliott. This series is arranged alphabetically.
The collection is open to the public and is available for viewing in the Medical Heritage Center. Materials do not circulate and must be used in the supervised reading room. Restrictions, including copyright, may exist and some materials may be too fragile to photocopy or digitize. The MHC charges for duplication services, which must be performed by staff.
[Identification of item], Daniel W. Elliott, MD Papers, SPEC.201724.ELLIOTT, Medical Heritage Center, Health Sciences Library, The Ohio State University.