In Memorium: Robert Wilmott, MD, Leaves A Legacy Of Care And Impact
Robert Wilmott, MD, passed away on May 19. He served as the director of the Division of Pulmonary Medicine, Allergy and Clinical Immunology and the Dorothy and Hubert Campbell Professor of Pediatric Pulmonology at Cincinnati Children’s from 1989 to 2001. Born in London in 1948, Dr. Wilmott showed great interest and aptitude in the sciences from an early age. He was the first member of his family to attend college, and he earned his medical degree from University College London in 1973. Prior to joining Cincinnati Children’s, he held positions at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia from 1977-78 and 1982-86, and Wayne State University in Detroit from 1986-89.
After the Pulmonary Biology division was established at Cincinnati Children's in 1989, Dr. Wilmott was recruited to head Pulmonary Medicine and furthered the 30-year efforts of Dr. Frank Kellogg’s study of cystic fibrosis (CF). Dr. Wilmott also created the pediatric pulmonary fellowship training program at Cincinnati Children’s and was its first program director. “Since then, this training program has graduated over 70 pediatric pulmonary fellows,” said Barb Chini, MD, medical director of Pulmonary Inpatient Services. “Most graduates are now in faculty positions in at least 24 states. This is a tremendous contribution to the field of pediatric pulmonology, and to children with chronic respiratory diseases everywhere.”
Dr. Wilmott was a mentor and teacher to many physicians, as well as the author of many scholarly works, including more than 300 journal articles. He served as an associate editor of the Journal of Pediatrics for 18 years and as principal author of Kendig and Wilmott’s Disorders of the Respiratory Tract in Children, which remains an authoritative textbook of pediatric pulmonology.
In 2001, Dr. Wilmott moved to St. Louis, where he was named chair of Pediatrics at Saint Louis University Medical School and pediatrician-in-chief at Cardinal Glennon Hospital. He was named dean of Saint Louis University Medical School and vice president of Medical Affairs in 2019 until he stepped down from that role just over a year ago. He fully retired in 2024.
Tom Boat, MD, former chairman of Pediatrics, reflected on Dr. Wilmott’s impact prior to his departure from Cincinnati Children’s in the 2001 medical staff newsletter, “Staff Bulletin”: “He has contributed new concepts and information through his research on lung inflammation and immune responses in childhood and has assembled a clinical trials program for cystic fibrosis care that is one of just six sites in a national network. Perhaps most impressively, he has fostered collaborations that have been very effective with several divisions, including Adolescent Medicine, Health Policy and Clinical Effectiveness, Gastroenterology, and Pulmonary Biology."