On May 8, the College of Veterinary Medicine will host the Robert C. and Alice C. Campbell Investiture, bestowing an endowed chair on Dr. David A. Williams. A chair is the highest named faculty appointment title at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, signifying excellence and prominence in scholarly endeavors, including research, teaching, and service.
Our Donors: Robert C. and Alice C. Campbell
An Illinois Love Story, with Cats
They were born in small, west central Illinois towns about 90 miles and 9 years apart. They met at the University of Illinois and married on Valentine’s Day in 1955, the year after Robert completed his bachelor’s degree in business.
In 1964, Robert and Alice Campbell moved to Los Angeles, California, where they co-founded the Robert Campbell Company, a mortgage brokerage firm specializing in large shopping centers.
Over their lifetimes, the successful couple contributed to many civic and philanthropic causes, and their alma mater was a frequent beneficiary. Two campus buildings bear their names, the Campbell Hall for Public Telecommunications and the Alice Campbell Alumni Center. They also supported student scholarships and endowed a chair at the College of Law, where Alice had earned her JD.
In 2006 they established the Alice C. and Robert C. Campbell Scholarship in Loving Memory of the Campbell Cats at the College of Veterinary Medicine.
In creating the Robert C. and Alice C. Campbell Endowed Chair in Veterinary Clinical Medicine, they again highlighted their devotion to cats. The fund agreement indicates that the recipient of the position should have “… expertise and academic abilities within the field of feline diseases and conditions, particularly diabetes, obesity, hyperthyroidism, cancer, renal disorders and other metabolic diseases.”
Alice Campbell lived to the age of 100, passing away in 2021, the year after her husband had died. The impact of their generosity will live on at the College of Veterinary Medicine and throughout the University of Illinois.
Dr. David A. Williams
Inaugural Robert C. and Alice C. Campbell Endowed Chair in Veterinary Clinical Medicine
Dr. David Williams has spent his career studying digestive diseases in companion animals. His research has contributed to our understanding that cats, like dogs, can develop exocrine pancreatic disease and that cobalamin (vitamin B12) plays an important role in maintaining health in both species.
Working with colleagues in his laboratory, he pioneered diagnostic use of pancreatic lipase and collaborated with the private sector to facilitate use of this and other tests internationally. He has studied aspects of the intestinal microbiome in digestive diseases of dogs and cats since the early 1980s.
Dr. Williams holds board-certification in small animal internal medicine from both the American and the European colleges of veterinary internal medicine and is certified in Veterinary Practice Management. He has delivered invited lectures in more than 15 countries, co-authored two textbooks, and published numerous refereed articles, proceedings, and book chapters. Several of his many mentees hold academic positions internationally.
In 2002, the British Small Animal Veterinary Association presented Dr. Williams with the Bourgelat Award for outstanding international contributions to small animal practice. He was named an Honorary Doctorate of the University of Helsinki in 2008.
Dr. Williams earned his veterinary degree from the University of Cambridge, his PhD from the University of Liverpool, and completed internship and residency training programs at the University of Pennsylvania. He established the Gastrointestinal Laboratory while he was a faculty member at the University of Florida. He continued this work at Kansas State and Purdue before moving to Texas A&M University in 1997. This laboratory has become the premier diagnostic and research laboratory in veterinary gastroenterology.
In 2005 Dr. Williams joined the University of Illinois as head of the Department of Veterinary Clinical Medicine, where he was instrumental in rebuilding the small animal emergency and critical care service, introducing a new veterinary curriculum, and establishing the Clinical Skills Learning Center. Since 2011 his research has focused on understanding digestive issues affecting older cats.
![[Dr. Leyi Wang poses in a laboratory]](https://vetmed.illinois.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/res-wang-kobuvirus.jpg)