Morrison Schroeder was born on July 11th, 1908 in Dixon, Illinois. Shortly after, his family moved to Racine, Wisconsin where he graduated from Racine High School in 1926. He attended the University of Wisconsin, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in 1931. He then went on to attend medical school at Washington University, graduating with an MD in 1933. As so often happened in that era of surgical training, he trained at several different hospitals including a rotating internship at the Episcopal Hospital in Philadelphia, from January 1, 1934 to December 31, 1935. He then took a surgical internship at Vanderbilt University Hospital in Nashville, Tennessee from November 1936 to June of 1937. He spent six months at the Presbyterian Hospital in San Juan, Puerto Rico and finished his surgical residency at the Louisville City Hospital in 1939.
He served in the army from 1940-1946. Rumor has it that he thought physicians were not worthy of automatic rank, so he went in as an enlisted man. However, he was soon promoted to the rank of an officer. He entered private practice in 1946 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin where he was an attending at Columbia Hospital, Milwaukee County General Hospital, St. Luke's Hospital, and the Veterans Administration Hospital. It was at the latter institution that he spent considerable amount of time as a consultant running his surgical service. Every surgical resident at the old Marquette (later to become The Medical College of Wisconsin) surgical service rotated through Dr. Schroeder's service. He was a tough and demanding teacher whose interest was in the best care for the patient, as well as making sure that the young men he trained got the very best he could offer. He had strict criteria, holding the senior resident responsible for any and all activities on his service. Although the rotation was difficult and the men who trained under him may have disliked his rigidity, they are all grateful for his teaching. He is often commended as one of the shining lights in their surgical education.
His effort in the general community of surgery was in the ethical practice of surgery. He became a member of Wisconsin Surgical Society and sat on their ethics committee. As one of the senior members of the present Milwaukee surgical community relates, during ethics committee meetings, if you did not go along with Dr. Schroeder's opinion you spent lengthy hours in discussion as he persuaded you the right way of thinking. Wherever the Wisconsin Surgical Club went in the United States, surgeons knew and respected him.
Date
Visiting Professor
Institution/Title
2011
Keith D. Lillemoe, MD
The Massachusetts General Hospital Surgeon-in-Chief, Chairman, Department of Surgery Harvard Medical School Professor of Surgery
2010
David A. Geller, MD
University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine Director, UPMC Liver and Pancreas Institute Co-Director, UPMC Liver Cancer Center Richard L. Simmons Professor of Surgery
2007
John A. Aucar, MD, MSHI
University of Texas Health Center Professor and Chairman, Department of Surgery
2006
John G. Hunter, MD
Oregon Health and Science University MacKenzie Professor and Chairman Department of Surgery
2005
James P. Neifeld, MD
Virginia Commonwealth University's Medical College of Virginia Stuart McGuire Professor and Chairman Department of Surgery
2004
Gary L. Dunnington, MD
Southern Illinois University School of Medicine Professor and Chairman, Department of Surgery
2003
Shukri F. Khuri, MD
Harvard Medical School, Brigham and Women's Hospital Professor of Surgery Vice Chairman, Department of Surgery
2002
Wallace P. Ritchie, Jr., MD, PhD
The American Board of Surgery Retired Executive Director
2001
Russell G. Postier, MD
University of Oklahoma John A. Schilling Professor and Chairman Department of Surgery
2000
John J. Ricotta, MD
State Universtiy of New York - Stony Brook University Hospital and Medical Center Professor and Chairman, Department of Surgery
1999
John L. Tarpley, MD
Vanderbilt University Professor, Department of Surgery
1998
Joseph C. Darin, MD
Medical College of Wisconsin Emeritus Professor and Past Chairman of Emergency Medicine
1997
Wayne Boulanger, MD
Past Chairman and Chief of Staff Department of Surgery Columbia Hospital Clinical Professor of Surgery, MCW
1996
David Skinner, MD
1995
Lawrence Rikkers, MD
1994
Claude Organ, MD
1993
Ward Griffin, MD
1992
Tom Shires, MD
1991
C. Rollin Hanlon, MD
1990
David Sabiston, Jr., MD
1989
William P. Longmire, MD
1988
Arthur J. Donovan, MD
1987
Lloyd Nyhus, MD
1986
Mark Ravitch, MD
1985
Eugene M. Bricker, MD
Washington University School of Medicine Emeritus Professor of Surgery