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executive pharmacologist physician pharmaceutical company executive
Wilmer Leigh Thompson was born on June 25, 1938, to Wilmer L. Thompson and Mary Bissell McIver Thompson. He developed a career that combined clinical medicine, pharmacological research, academic teaching, critical-care practice, and pharmaceutical leadership. His professional life connected university medicine and government research with the development, evaluation, and regulation of medicines in industry.
Thompson studied biology at the College of Charleston, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in 1958. He then attended the Medical University of South Carolina, where he received a Master of Science in pharmacology in 1960 and a Doctor of Philosophy in pharmacology in 1963. He later earned his medical degree from Johns Hopkins University in 1965 and completed internal-medicine training on the Osler service at Johns Hopkins Hospital. The Medical University of South Carolina awarded him an honorary Doctor of Science degree in the mid-1990s. His academic distinctions included election to Alpha Omega Alpha and Phi Beta Kappa, induction into the Johns Hopkins Society of Scholars, and recognition as a distinguished alumnus by the Medical University of South Carolina and Johns Hopkins University.
Thompson began his clinical training as an intern and resident at Johns Hopkins Hospital, where he subsequently worked in critical care medicine, emergency medicine, and clinical pharmacology. From 1967 to 1969 he served as a staff associate at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. He joined Johns Hopkins University in 1970 as an assistant professor of medicine and pharmacology, remaining there through 1974. From 1974 to 1982 he was associated with Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, serving as an associate professor and professor of pharmacology and contributing to academic medicine and critical-care research. He also held a professorship in medicine at Indiana University from 1985 to 1995. In 1982 he joined Lilly Research Laboratories of Eli Lilly and Company, advancing from director to vice president, group vice president, and executive vice president. His responsibilities included clinical investigation and regulatory affairs, and he became chief scientific officer of Lilly Research Laboratories in 1992 before retiring from Eli Lilly in 1994. In 1995 he became chairman and chief executive officer of Profound Quality Resources, a Charleston-based consultancy serving the health-care industry. Thompson edited ten medical textbooks and authored approximately 300 scientific papers, with work spanning critical care, clinical pharmacology, drug therapy, pharmaceutical development, and regulatory science.
Edited ten medical textbooks and authored approximately 300 scientific papers in critical care, clinical pharmacology, drug therapy, and pharmaceutical development.
Contributed to the development of critical-care medicine through clinical research, teaching, professional leadership, and work on drug therapy in seriously ill patients.
Held senior scientific leadership responsibility at Eli Lilly and Company, linking pharmaceutical research, clinical investigation, regulatory affairs, and information technology.
(Co-authored clinical pharmacology study conducted through...)
1988(Article by W. Leigh Thompson on dopamine therapy in shock...)
1977(Letter and comment by W. Leigh Thompson concerning an out...)
2004(Spanish-language edition of The Society of Critical Care ...)
1986(Co-authored with William C. Shoemaker and Peter R. Holbro...)
1983Quotations: Edward Fitzgerald's translation of the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám was quoted in Thompson's 1982 presidential address to the Society of Critical Care Medicine.
Thompson was a Fellow of the American College of Physicians and belonged to the American College of Critical Care Medicine, the Society of Critical Care Medicine, the Central Society for Clinical Research, and the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics. He served as president of the Society of Critical Care Medicine from 1981 to 1982 and was later designated an honorary life member. He was inducted into the Johns Hopkins Society of Scholars in 2003.
Fellow.
American College of Physicians
Member.
American College of Critical Care Medicine
President from 1981 to 1982; honorary life member from 1987.
Society of Critical Care Medicine
1981 - 1982
Member.
Central Society for Clinical Research
Member.
American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics
Inducted in 2003.
Johns Hopkins Society of Scholars
2003
Colleagues described Thompson as exceptionally intelligent, creative, energetic, gracious, approachable, and generous with his time. Accounts of his work emphasize his enthusiasm, humor, collegiality, and willingness to advise and assist others.
Quotes from others about the person
In a 2003 FDA citation, Commissioner Mark McClellan recognized Thompson's pioneering initiatives in critical care, pharmaceutical-development innovation, information-technology management, and collaboration with regulators. Colleagues remembered him as an unusually intelligent, creative, gracious, and energetic mentor and collaborator.
Thompson was the son of Wilmer L. Thompson and Mary Bissell McIver Thompson. His professional connections extended across Johns Hopkins University, Case Western Reserve University, the National Institutes of Health, Eli Lilly and Company, and organizations devoted to critical-care medicine and clinical pharmacology.
