William Henry Welch

William Henry Welch was born in Norfolk, Connecticut in 1850 to William Wickham Welch and Emeline Collin Welch. As one of the founding professors at Johns Hopkins Hospital, he played a critical role in establishing the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health, the first school of public health in the United States. Welch's work in bacteriology included the discovery of Clostridium perfringens, the bacterium which causes gas gangrene. He also contributed to the response to the 1918 Influenza Pandemic. He was awarded honorary fellowship for the role he played during WWI. He died 30 April 1934.