Friends call me Bill; very good friends call me "Willy". My home is in Oakland, California, where I live with my wife in the house we rebuilt after the disastrous 1991 "FireStorm". The mailing address is nearby Berkeley however, dictated by an ancient plebiscite. Gertrude Stein once said of Oakland: "There is no there there." Among other things, the city is where Amelia Earhart began her ill-fated last flight. Berkeley of course is, well, ...Berkeley [grin]. It has the famous University of California campus; though some argue it's the other way 'round.

Three grown children (and five grandkids) all live in Alaska, so I'm freed from parenting. Retired from my position as Laboratory Director, now I've time fully to indulge my hobbies.

Over a long and fulfilling life, I've worn many hats in genetics, biophysics, petrochemistry, computer science, mountain-rescue, and more. In what follows, I will touch on some of these.

For over 40 years I worked as a professional geneticist. First though, I worked my way "up through the ranks", starting in 1960 as a Laboratory Technologist at the Donner Laboratory of Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory. Both institutions are located on the campus of The University of California at Berkeley. I worked principally in radiochemistry and bone marrow transplantation, but also needed skills from my fresh BS in Genetics. Rapidly promoted, in time I was promoted to Biophysicist, usually a Doctoral-level professional rank. While working full-time (and married, with kids), I continued graduate studies under a special program for employees. By 1965 I'd earned a MS in Mammalian Genetics; my PhD in Human Genetics followed (finally!) in 1973. At the time, it was the only PhD ever awarded under that program.

Shortly after, I was appointed Adjunct Associate Professor in Pediatrics at the School of Medicine within The University of California, San Francisco. Teaching was part of the job, of course. But principally I was Director of the Cytogenetics Laboratory, engaged in "chromosomes" generally and prenatal diagnosis particularly. At the time, prenatal diagnosis was pioneering work; my laboratory quickly gained international recognition.

Genetic databases were a novelty too, and generally not very accessible. To overcome this, I created GENFILES. Microprocessor machines were networked by telephone with IBM 370 mainframes. Special programs were written to draw on the strengths of each machine; this may have been the first such network. It was used by UCSF and several other sites, sharing laboratory data in a multi-State consortium. Some of my computer "training" is covered in another page: "Personal" » "Hobbies" » "Computers", above left.

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Before leaving the UCSF laboratory (by then possessed of the world's largest case-load), I stood for examinations by the American Board of Medical Genetics (ABMG), becoming one of the first Board-certifed Diplomate Clinical Cytogeneticists.

Migrating across the Bay to Children's Hospital Oakland, I accepted Directorship of their Genetics Laboratory. Prenatal diagnosis remained my primary focus, but also I initiated programs in cancer-genetics and developed other advanced procedures. All remain today as staples of that laboratory.

Before long, I was honored by election to membership as a Founding Fellow in the American College of Medical Genetics (ACMG). This is one of only two American Medical "Colleges" which will admit non-MD PhDs.

Shortly after retiring in 1996, I was "recalled to duty" while the Department awaited my successor's delayed arrival. Only a few months later, before he arrived, I suffered a stroke. Suddenly I became re-retired de facto. Despite mild aphasia (lingering even today), eventually I recovered enough for some short-term consulting and Directorial "fill-ins". My credentials were both rare enough and State-required, so in that exquisitely narrow and under-populated market, I had no trouble keeping busy. Finally though, I was reminded of just why I'd retired in the first place! In 2000 I withdrew my services and embraced the free time! of full retirement. Two years later, I retired from the ACMG as well.

You may read my Curriculum Vitae: "Professional", above left.

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