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.

During his tenure at Washington University, Dr. Terry initiated and assembled one of the largest skeletal research collections in the United States. The collection is an important resource for anthropological research because of the extensive documentation that accompanies each skeleton. The Robert J. Terry Anatomical Skeletal Collection is a collection of some 1,728 human skeletons. In 1964, the collection was indefinitely loaned to the National Museum of Natural History and the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, where it still resides today.

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 Bill and Ann Swindell Endowed Chair HHMI Investigator Stanford University	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