Robert J. Terry Lecture
The Robert J. Terry lecture acknowledges the contributions of Dr. Terry to the teaching of human anatomy.
The Robert J. Terry Lecture was established in 1938 by alumni and friends of the Washington University School of Medicine to honor Dr. Terry and to foster greater appreciation of the study of human anatomy in relation to the teaching and practice of medicine.
Dr. Terry became head of the Department of Anatomy at Washington University School of Medicine in 1900. When the school was reorganized in 1910 after the recommendations made by the Flexner Report, Dr. Terry was the only department chairman to be reappointed.
Dr. Terry was well known among scientists in his field for the reforms he introduced in the teaching of human anatomy. He finished his pre-medical education at Cornell University in New York in 1892 and received his medical degree in 1895 from the Missouri Medical College, forerunner of Washington University School of Medicine. Dr. Terry continued active work in the Department of Anatomy until 1959, when he moved to Weston, MA, to be near his daughter. At the time of his retirement in 1941, he received the title of professor emeritus, and in 1956 he was awarded an honorary LLD degree.
Dr. Terry passed away in 1966 at the age of 95.
Robert J. Terry Lecture speakers
| Dr. Liqun Luo Ann and Bill Swindells Professor and Professor, by courtesy, of Neurobiology Department of Biology School of Humanities and Sciences Stanford University Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator | 2024 |
| Dr. Karel Svoboda Vice President and Executive Director Allen Institute for Neural Dynamics The Neural Basis of Planning and Movement | 2023 |
| Dr. David Ginty Edward R. and Anne G. Lefler Professor of Neurobiology Harvard Medical School November 10, 2022 | 2022 |
| Dr. György Buzsáki Biggs Professor of Neural Sciences New York University, Langone Medical Center Preconfigured Network Dynamics: Brain in the Body | 2021 |
| Dr. Larry Abbott William Bloor Professor of Theoretical Neuroscience Columbia University Medical Center Circuit Models of Fly Navigation | 2020 |
| Dr. Pietro De Camilli John Klingenstein Professor of Neuroscience and Professor of Cell Biology, Chair, Department of Neuroscience, Director, Kavli Institute for Neuroscience Yale University School of Medicine Intracellular Membrane Contact Sites, Lipid Dynamics and Neurodegeneration | 2020 |
| Dr. Wolfram Schultz Professor of Neuroscience, Department of Physiology, Development & Neuroscience University of Cambridge Getting the Best Reward: Neuronal Mechanisms for Utility Maximisation | 2018 |
| Dr. Lee Berger Research Professor in Human Evolution & the Public Understanding of Science, Evolutionary Studies Institute University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa Almost Human – Homo Naledi | 2017 |
| Dr. David J. Anderson Seymour Benzer Professor of Biology, Division of Biology & Biological Engineering California Institute of Technology The Neural Circuitry of Sex and Violence | 2015 |
| Dr. David W. Tank Henry L. Hillman Professor of Neuroscience and Molecular Biology Princeton University Neural Circuit Dynamics During Virtual Navigation | 2014 |
| Dr. Charles Zuker Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics and of Neuroscience Columbia University, Howard Hughes Medical Institute From the Tongue to the Brain: The Biology of Mammalian Taste | 2012 |
| Dr. David McCormick Dorys McConnel Duberg Professor of Neurobiology and Co-Director, Kavli Institute for Neuroscience Yale University The Cortex Operates Through Dynamic Functional Connectivity | 2011 |
| Dr. Kevan A.C. Martin Professor of Systems Neurophysiology, Director, Institute of Neuroinformatics University of Zurich and Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Opening the Grey Box: From Synapses to Circuits in the Neocortex | 2010 |
| Dr. Gilles Laurent Lawrence A. Hanson Jr. Professor of Biology and Computation and Neural Systems California Institute of Technology Circuits and Dynamics in Early Olfaction | 2009 |
| Dr. Allison Doupe Professor of Psychiatry and Physiology, Co-Director, Sloan-Swartz Center for Theoretical Neurobiology University of California, San Francisco Lessons from Songbirds About Circuits and Signals | 2008 |
| Dr. Michael Greenberg Director, Neurobiology Program, Children’s Hospital Boston, Professor of Neurology & Neurobiology Harvard Medical School Signalling Networks that Regulate Synapse Development and Cognitive Function | 2007 |
| Dr. Amiram Grinvald Professor and Director, The Grodetsky Center for Research of Higher Brain Functions The Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel It Is All in the Eye of the Beholder | 2006 |
| Dr. Bert Sakmann Professor and Director, Cell Physiology Department Max-Planck-Institut medizinische Forschung, Heidelberg, Germany Structure and Function of Microcircuits in the Barrel Cortex | 2004 |
| Dr. Rüdiger Wehner Professor and Department Head, Department of Zoology University of Zurich Desert Ant Navigation: Mini Brains – Mega Tasks – Smart Solutions | 2003 |
| Dr. Eric Lander Director, Whitehead Institute/MIT Center for Genome Research, Professor of Biology Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Human Genome and Beyond | 2002 |
| Dr. Roger Tsien Professor of Pharmacology and Chemistry University of California, San Diego Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute Genetically Encoded Indicators of Signal Transduction and Protein Interaction | 2000 |
| Dr. Robert Sapolsky Professor of Biological Sciences Stanford University Stress, Neurodegeneration, and Strategies for Saving the Endangered Neuron | 1999 |
| Dr. Harvey Karten Professor of Neurosciences and of Psychiatry University of California, San Diego Evolution of Visual Cortical Pathways | 1998 |
| Dr. Richard Axel Higgins Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, College of Physicians and Surgeons Columbia University The Molecular Biology of Smell | 1996 |
| Dr. Simon LeVay Chair, Board of Directors Institute of Gay and Lesbian Education, West Hollywood, CA The Biology of Sexual Orientation | 1994 |
| Dr. Eric Shooter Professor, Department of Neurobiology Stanford University School of Medicine The Molecular Basis of the Peripheral Neuropathies of Mouse and Human | 1993 |
| Dr. Roger A. Nicoll Professor, Departments of Pharmacology and Physiology University of California, San Francisco Pre‑ and Postsynaptic Mechanisms in Long‑Term Potentiation | 1992 |
| Dr. Mark Konishi Bing Professor of Behavioral Biology California Institute of Technology Similar Neural Algorithm in Different Sensory Systems and Animal Species | 1990 |
| Dr. Mortimer Mishkin Chief, Laboratory of Neuropsychology National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, Maryland From Perception into Memory | 1989 |
| Dr. Pasko Rakic Professor of Neuroscience, Chairman, Section of Neuroanatomy Yale University School of Medicine Evolution of Neocortical Parcellation | 1988 |
| Dr. Vincent Matthew Sarich Professor of Anthropology and Biochemistry University of California, Berkeley Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Human Evolution | 1988 |
| Dr. Alan Walker Professor of Cell Biology and Anatomy The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine New Fossil Finds Relating to Evolution from Lake Turkana in Kenya | 1986 |
| Dr. Morris J. Karnovsky Shattuck Professor of Pathological Anatomy, Chairman, Program in Cell & Developmental Biology Harvard Medical School Heparin and Growth Regulation in the Vascular Wall and Other Systems: A New Biological Role for Heparin? | 1985 |
| Dr. David Pilbeam Professor of Anthropology Harvard University Human Origins Research: Then and Now | 1984 |
| Dr. Nicole Le Douarin Director, Embryology Institute of the French National Scientific Research Center and College of France and Director of Research at the CNRS Migration and Differentiation of Neural Crest Cells Studied in Interspecific Chimaeras | 1983 |
| Dr. Phillip V. Tobias Professor & Head, Department of Anatomy, Dean, Faculty of Medicine University of Witwatersrand Medical School, Johannesburg, South Africa The Anatomy of Hominization | 1981 |
| Dr. C. Owen Lovejoy Professor of Anthropology, Department of Sociology & Anthropology Kent State University The Origin of Man: New Developments During the Last Decade | 1981 |
| Dr. S.J. Singer Professor of Biology University of California, San Diego Molecular Interactions Between the Membrane and Cytoskeleton | 1980 |
| Dr. Ray W. Guillery Professor, Department of Pharmacological and Physiological Sciences University of Chicago The Arrangement of Visual Field Maps Within the Layers of the Dorsal Lateral Geniculate Nucleus | 1979 |
| Dr. David D. Sabatini Frederick L. Ehrman Professor and Chairman, Department of Cell Biology New York University School of Medicine Functions of Membrane‑Bound Ribosomes in the Endoplasmic Reticulum | 1978 |
| Dr. Rupert E. Billingham Professor and Head, Department of Cell Biology University of Texas Southwestern Medical School Transplantation Biology and the Maternal‑Fetal Relationship | 1976 |
| Dr. Richard C. Lewontin Alexander Agassiz Professor of Zoology Harvard University Variation in Men and Other Animals | 1975 |
| Dr. Norman K. Wessells Professor and Chairman, Department of Biology Stanford University Cell Locomotion and Nerve Axon Elongation | 1974 |
| Dr. Marilyn G. Farquhar Professor of Cell Biology and Experimental Pathology The Rockefeller University A New Look at the Structure and Function of the Golgi Apparatus | 1973 |
| Dr. John E. Dowling Professor of Biology Harvard University Functional Organization of the Vertebrate Retina | 1972 |
| Dr. Raymond A. Dart Emeritus Professor of Anatomy University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa Finding the Missing Link | 1971 |
| Dr. Don Wayne Fawcett Hersey Professor of Anatomy and Head of the Department Harvard Medical School Some Contributions of Morphology to Reproductive Biology | 1970 |
| Dr. George Gaylord Simpson Alexander Agassiz Professor of Paleontology Harvard University The Evolution of Marsupials | 1969 |
| Dr. L.S.B. Leakey Honorary Director National Centre of Prehistory and Paleontology, Nairobi, Kenya The Present State of our Knowledge of Human Evolution | 1968 |
| Dr. J.V. Basmajian Professor and Head of the Department of Anatomy Queen’s University Faculty of Medicine Muscles Alive – Electronic Exploration of Inner Space | 1967 |
| Dr. Alfred Romer Alexander Agassiz Professor of Zoology Emeritus Harvard University The Vertebrate as a Dual Organism – Somatic and Visceral | 1966 |
| Dr. Ronald Singer Professor of Anthropology and Anatomy University of Chicago Steatopygia: A Fat Tail | 1965 |
| Dr. Harry Eagle Chairman, Department of Cell Biology Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Yeshiva University Metabolic Controls in Cultured Human Cells | 1964 |
| Dr. A.S. Parkes Mary Marshall Professor of the Physiology of Reproduction University of Cambridge Olfactory Effects in Mammalian Reproduction | 1963 |
| Dr. Emmanuel C. Amoroso Professor of Physiology The Royal Veterinary College, University of London Patterns of Reproductive Behavior from Fish to Man | 1961 |
| Dr. J. Dixon Boyd Professor of Anatomy University of Cambridge The Human Placenta | 1958 |
| Dr. Viktor Hamburger Professor of Zoology and Head of the Department Washington University Cell Differentiation and Organogenesis In Vitro | 1957 |
| Dr. Sam L. Clark Professor and Head of the Department of Anatomy Vanderbilt University School of Medicine Some Studies of Cerebellar Function in the Intact Animal | 1956 |
| Dr. Charles H. Danforth Professor Emeritus of Anatomy Stanford University School of Medicine The Scope of Anatomy | 1955 |
| Dr. Louis B. Flexner Professor of Anatomy University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine Studies on the Biology of Fetal Development | 1953 |
| Dr. Keith R. Porter Associate Member Rockefeller Institute Electron Microscopy Applied to the Study of Tissue Cell Structure | 1952 |
| Dr. James L. Gamble Emeritus Professor of Pediatrics Harvard Medical School Early History of Fluid Replacement Therapy | 1952 |
| Dr. Edward W. Dempsey Professor & Chairman, Department of Anatomy Washington University School of Medicine Chemical Histology and Its Relationship to Biological Problems | 1950 |
| Dr. Paul Weiss Professor of Zoology University of Chicago Mechanisms of Nerve Growth | 1949 |