Campaign for Weems Chair of Urology Officially Kicks Off

Friends, colleagues and former residents of Dr. W. Lamar Weems officially kicked off a $2 million campaign to fund the W. Lamar Weems Chair of Urology at an April 30 dinner — equally laced with tributes, memories and good-natured ribbing.

Weems served as director of the Division of Urology in the Department of Surgery at the University of Mississippi Medical Center from 1969-1990 and as acting director from 2002-2003. He trained a large number of the urologists who practice in Mississippi today.

The dinner was at the River Hills Club in Jackson. Nearly 100 people attended, including many of Weems’ former residents.

In his welcoming remarks, Dr. Daniel W. Jones, vice chancellor for health affairs and dean of the School of Medicine, recalled Sir William Osler’s words that a university’s greatest treasure is in its names.

“We thank you, Dr. Weems,” he said, “for lending your good name to this chair and for your life of service to our institution and to our state.”

Dr. William W. Turner, Jr., James D. Hardy Professor of Surgery, department chair and master of ceremonies for the dinner, announced that nearly $600,000 in cash and pledges had already been raised for the chair. He thanked all who had generously supported it thus far and recognized three donors who have committed $100,000 to the endowment: the Mississippi Urology Clinic where Weems practiced from 1990-2005; the Ergon Foundation; and Dr. and Mrs. Weems.

“The legacy Lamar Weems established as the second chief of the Division of Urology,” Turner said, “will continue forward with the programs and opportunities that will be afforded by the resources of the chair that bears his name. Chairs in medical schools carry great prestige . . . the Weems Chair will play a key role in attracting the best and the brightest academic surgeons to further the mission of the Division of Urology and the Medical Center.”

Dr. John Wiener, the current urology division chief, echoed Turner’s words about the need for endowed chairs. He said they’re also becoming a necessity for all medical schools because of the widening gap between the incomes of academic physicians and those in private practice.

“Endowed chairs provide a guaranteed income source to help create competitive packages to keep bright doctors at medical schools doing research, teaching medical students and mentoring residents,” Wiener said. “I felt it was imperative for the division to develop an endowed chair . . . and it did not require more than a second’s thought to know that such a chair should be named in honor of Dr. Weems.

"He was one of the builders of the Medical Center, and his name should be on a level with others for whom chairs at UMC have been named.”

Wiener said Weems trained more than 45 urologists during his tenure as the Medical Center’s urology chief.

“Amazingly, at age 70, when some of his former trainees had long since retired, he agreed to return to the Medical Center to serve as acting chief of urology while continuing to maintain his private practice,” Wiener said.

“He served in that capacity for two years until he convinced me to take over the post. Like everything in life, he tackled this with his usual vigor. He took call seven days a week and scrubbed for cases day and night.”

In response, Weems discussed the history of the UMC urology program and expressed gratitude and indebtedness to many people — “people important to me and too numerous to mention. I fully appreciate your being here and being a part of my life."

Robin Weems paid tribute to her father for the family. She called him a “complex, amazing man of great integrity.” He loved us unconditionally — but not enough to take us back to Six Flags for a second summer straight,” she said.

Three former residents — Dr. Joe Ross of Jackson, Dr. Stephen Farmer of Tupelo and Dr. Chuck Secrest of Jackson — remembered their mentor with lively tales of “surgical misadventures,” as Weems dubbed them, “nervous habits” and the “pregnant pauses” they sometimes encountered in discussions with their chief, but each also expressed pride in being a “Weems-trained urologist.”

“You made us who we are, and we love you,” Secrest said.

A native of Forest, Weems earned the baccalaureate degree at Millsaps College and the MD at Baylor University. He completed a urology residency at the Medical Center and a fellowship in urology at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

Weems joined the Medical Center faculty in 1965 as an associate professor of surgery and became chief of the urology division in 1969, succeeding Dr. Temple Ainsworth.

Active in the professional community, Weems is past-president of the American Association of Clinical Urologists, the Southeastern Section of the American Urological Association, the Mississippi Chapter of the American College of Surgeons, the Mississippi State Medical Association and the Central Mississippi Medical Society.

He was a founding member of the American Trauma Society. He served as chair of the National Kidney Foundation’s Council on Urology and chair of the Southern Medical Association’s Section on Urology. He is a member of the Societe Internationale d’Urologie, the Southern Surgical Association and the Society of Pelvic Surgeons.

His publications in the professional literature include chapters on urology in Lawyer’s Medical Cyclopedia and in the Rhodes Textbook of Surgery.

A member of Alpha Omega Alpha, the national medical honorary society, Weems holds the Mississippi State Medical Association’s Community Service Award, the National Kidney Foundation’s Distinguished Service Award, the Mississippi Council on Aging Advocacy Award and the American Urological Association’s Golden Cane Award for Distinguished Service in Urology. Millsaps College named him Alumnus of the Year in 1987.

Now professor emeritus of surgery, Weems will retire from the practice of urology in July.

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