December 18, 1926 ~ March 7, 2021
Dr. David C. Wherry, Medical Pioneer and Surgeon
David Colwell Wherry, a military officer and Clinical Professor of Surgery at Georgetown and George Washington Universities, died Sunday, March 7th after bravely battling health issues over the last couple of years. He was 94 years old.
Dr. Wherry was born on December 18, 1926, in Pawnee City, Nebraska. The only son of the late U.S. Senate Minority Leader Kenneth S. Wherry (RNE), Dr. Wherry dedicated his life to innovation in surgery and service to the United States.
He attended Doane College in Nebraska and then, after service in the U.S. Navy towards the end of World War 11, the U.S. Naval Academy. After choosing a medical career, Dr. Wherry graduated from George Washington University with a B.A. in 1948 and an M.D. 1952. He completed his surgical training at George Washington University Hospital and the Mount Alto Veterans Administration (VA) Hospital in Washington, DC. In 1954, Dr. Wherry was commissioned into the U.S. Air Force (USAF) as a Medical Corps officer, following his father’s tradition of military service during World War I. From 1954-1956, he spent over two years in England performing surgery at the 7559th USAF Hospital in Burtonwood, United Kingdom (U.K.).
After his residency, Dr. Wherry taught surgery at George Washington University from 1959 to 1972 and then at Georgetown University until 1989. While serving in his USAF reserve status at the Malcolm Grow Medical Center in Maryland, Dr. Wherry was appointed to a surgical professorship at the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences (USUHS) in 1985. Returned to active duty during Operation Desert Storm in 1990, Dr. Wherry retired from the military as a full Colonel in 1993, though he remained a Professor of Surgery at USUHS and Military Consultant to the USAF Surgeon General. In 1991, he received the Barry Goldwater Award for Exemplary Service by a Reserve Medical Officer. Dr. Wherry’s academic research focused primarily on colorectal cancer and surgical endoscopy.
He was a leading innovator in minimally invasive surgery such as laparoscopic cholecystectomy on the gallbladder, and eventually published over 50 manuscripts, three book chapters, and pro duced two films that were presented at meetings of the American College of Surgeons. Dr. Wherry and a colleague founded laparoscopic cholecystectomy courses in the military, and eventually trained over a thousand military surgeons by 2003.
He was also one of the first physicians in the United States to perform colonoscopies, becoming one of the procedure’s leading national experts. Under his leadership, USUHS became the first medical school in the US to train its third-year medical students in ultrasound in 2003.
In 1975, Dr. Wherry married a nurse from the Philippines, Azucena Reyes. He became a leading advocate for humanitarian links between US and Philippine hospitals. Between. 1996 and 1998, Dr. Wherry helped develop a Memorandum of Understanding between USUHS and the Philippine General Hospital in Manila, which established year-long training rotations for Philippine surgeons at USUHS and other joint programs. In appreciation of his leadership, Dr. Wherry was honored several times by the Philippine General Hospital and the Philippine College of Surgeons. He also retained ties to the U.K., and was appointed a Special Lecturer at the University of Nottingham and an Honorary Consultant to the Nottingham Health Authority in 1986.
Dr. Wherry was a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons and a past president of the District of Columbia Chapter, as well as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine and of the Royal College of Surgeons in the U.K. He was also a Founding Member of the Society of American Gastrointestinal Endoscopic Surgeons, of the Société Internationale de Chirurgie, and of the International Biliary Association.
Dr. Wherry served as the Senior Surgical Consultant to the medical division of the US Department of State from 1958-2006. He received the Meritorious Honor Award from the State Department in 1982 and the Defense Meritorious Service Medal from the Department of Defense in 1990.
Dr. Wherry is survived by his loving and dedicated wife, Azucena “Ceny” Wherry and his son Lt. Col. Kenneth D. Wherry (Ret.), his wife Kerrie Wherry and their two children, Kevin and Kristine.