William C. Roberts

William C. Roberts
William C. Roberts, M.D.
Born	(1932-09-11)September 11, 1932 Atlanta, Georgia
Nationality	United States
Alma mater	Emory University
Scientific career
Fields	Cardiology, Pathology
Institutions	National Institutes of Health, Baylor University Medical Center
Influences	Jesse Edwards, Glenn Morrow, Eugene Braunwald

William Clifford Roberts, M.D., M.A.C.C. (September 11, 1932 – ) is an American physician specializing in cardiac pathology.

He is a Master of the American College of Cardiology, a leading cardiovascular pathologist, and the current editor of both the American Journal of Cardiology and the Baylor University Medical Center Proceedings.

William C. Roberts was born in Atlanta, Georgia on September 11, 1932, the second of three sons to Stewart Ralph Roberts and Ruby Viola Holbrook. His father Stewart was a prominent faculty physician for Emory University Medical Center, attending patients alongside his mother who served as his nurse. The children were raised in the city until 1935 when the family moved to a rural farm 12 miles outside Atlanta where they would remain for the next six years. Roberts attended public schools in Avendale, Georgia, and then Atlanta, Georgia from the 5th grade onward. Roberts describes himself as a below-average student until 9th grade when an algebra teacher motivated him to pursue greater academic achievement.

In 1937, Stewart Roberts suffered a heart attack which disabled him until his death in 1941. Though this event would later come to cast great influence on Roberts' career, his initial undergraduate studies at Southern Methodist University were in English with aims toward a career in business. During this time, Roberts also joined the fraternity Phi Delta Theta. By junior year, Roberts' ambitions had shifted to medicine in earnest. In 1954, Roberts graduated early from Southern Methodist University with a bachelor's degree in the arts, having been accepted to Emory University's School of Medicine. To earn money, Roberts worked for the National Forest Service for the three months between college and medical school. Early in his medical school training, Roberts proved to be a gifted anatomist and earned a prestigious thoracic surgery externship at Walter Reed Army Medical Center before graduating Emory in 1958 with his medical doctorate.

After graduating from Emory, and despite his previous experiences in anatomy and surgery, Roberts served as an intern in medicine at Boston City Hospital before pursuing a 3-year residency in anatomic pathology at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. It was here, working with attending physicians such as Glenn Morrow and Eugene Braunwald that his career began to focus on cardiovascular pathology, and he focused his training exclusively on autopsies and surgical pathology. He also began reading the works of Jesse Edwards, which he credits with helping to develop both his style of writing and strong interests in medical authorship and publications. He next served as a resident on the Osler Medical Service at The Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore before spending an additional year as a fellow in cardiovascular disease at the National Institutes of Health. This extensive training conferred upon Roberts unique credentials both as an anatomic pathologist and a clinically trained cardiologist.