Background
Whipple was born to missionary parents William Levi Whipple and Mary Louise Whipple (née Allen), in Urmia, West Azerbaijan, Iran.
Whipple was born to missionary parents William Levi Whipple and Mary Louise Whipple (née Allen), in Urmia, West Azerbaijan, Iran.
Bachelor of Science, Princeton, 1904. Doctor of Medicine Columbia University, 1908, Doctor of Science, 1929. Doctor of Science, University Chicago, 1952, Washington University, Saint Louis, 1955.
From the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1908, and was licensed to practice medicine in the state of New York on February 4, 1910 (New York License #10151). He became professor of surgery at Columbia University where he served from 1921 to 1946. He began work on the procedure for resection of the pancreas (pancreaticoduodenectomy) in 1935 and his original technique has since been modified greatly.
In 1940, he shortened the procedure into a one-stage process.
During his lifetime, Whipple performed 37 pancreaticoduodenectomies. He also is known for developing the diagnostic triad for insulinoma known as Whipple"s triad.
He supervised the surgical residency of Virginia Apgar, later advising her to pursue her medical career in the field of anaesthesiology because he knew that surgery depended on advancements in this field to progress, and he saw in Apgar the "energy and ability" to make a significant contribution. Apgar later devised the Apgar Score, by which the health of newborns is evaluated.
Whipple was instrumental in founding the American Board of Surgery.
He also was trustee of Princeton University and was a recipient of the 1958 Woodrow Wilson Award.
American College of Surgeons fellow, New York Academy of Medicine. Member of the American Medical Association, American Surgical Association (president 1939-1940), Society Clinical Surgery, Surgical Research Society, Practitioners Society, Interurban Surgical Society, Southern U. Surgeons.
Married Mary Neales, 1912. Children: Mary Allen (Mistress R. J. Bing), Allen O., William (deceased).