In July 2023, we changed our name from AACC (short for the American Association for Clinical Chemistry) to the Association for Diagnostics & Laboratory Medicine (ADLM). The following page was written prior to this rebranding and contains mentions of the association’s old name. It may contain other out-of-date information as well.
1980 Outstanding Contributions through Service to the Profession of Clinical Chemistry
Willard R. Faulkner will receive the 15th AACC Award for Outstanding Contributions through Service to Clinical Chemistry as a Profession.
Dr. Faulkner was born in Jerry, WA, in 1915 and lived in Moscow, ID, during his early years. In 1940 he received a B.S. degree in bacteriology from the University of Idaho. From 1941 to 1943 he worked as a shipfitter at the Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Co., Kearny, NJ. He served in the U.S. Army during World War II, with a tour of duty in the Pacific, much of that time as a technician in field laboratories. Upon returning to the States, he worked as a laboratory technologist and later as a research chemist at Fitzsimons Army Hospital, Denver, CO. While there, he earned an M.S. degree in chemistry from the University of Denver.
In 1956, after receiving a Ph.D. degree in biochemistry from Vanderbilt University, he joined the staff of the Cleveland Clinic to develop a microchemistry laboratory, which he directed for the next 11 years. In 1968 he returned to Vanderbilt University and at that institution has held a number of different appointments, including that of acting director of Clinical Laboratories, director of the Clinical Chemistry Laboratories, and director of Research and Development in Clinical Chemistry. Currently he serves as associate professor of biochemistry.
A member of the American Association for Clinical Chemistry (AACC) since 1957, Dr. Faulkner was active in the Cleveland Section on the Constitution and Membership Committees, also representing this section as councilor (1962–1967). He was elected successively to the offices of secretary-treasurer (1958–1961), vice-chairman (1962), and chairman (1963).
He is a charter member of the Southeast Section, AACC, serving in 1979 as chairman-elect, and in 1971 as chairman.
In 1969 he was appointed by the State of Tennessee, Department of Public Health, as chairman of the Laboratory Licensure Committee, and held this office through 1978.
On a national level, Dr. Faulkner enjoyed membership on the Bilirubin Working Group of the Committee on Standards (1960) and on the Education and Scholarship (1965–1967) Committees.
In 1962 he was appointed chairman of the newly-created Public Relations Committee, which produced the brochure, Careers in Clinical Chemistry, published in 1966 and widely circulated over the United States. In 1974 he was elected to the Nominating Committee and in 1977–1979 was chairman of the Symposia Committee for the 1979 national meeting of the AACC.
In 1961 he became a Diplomate of the American Board of Clinical Chemistry; for nine years, 1969–1978, he was a member of the Board of Directors, National Registry in Clinical Chemistry.
Dr. Faulkner is a co-author with Dr. Samuel Meites of a text in microchemistry (1962). With Dr. John W. King, he edited the quarterly journal, CRC Critical Reviews in Clinical Laboratory Sciences (1970–1975).
Since 1965 Dr. Faulkner has been an editorial committee member, Selected (Standard) Methods of Clinical Chemistry, helping to produce volumes 5–8. Currently he is editor-in-chief, with Dr. Meites as co-editor, of volume 9 of Selected Methods of Clinical Chemistry, which deals with methods for the small clinical chemistry laboratory and is currently being prepared for publication by AACC.
His research interests are microchemistry, normal values, and trace-element analysis. His major non-academic interests are viticulture and oenology.