Grant W. Liddle (1921-1989)

Grant Liddle was born on a farm in American Fork, Utah in 1921. He was a third generation descendent of Mormon pioneers who made the desert blossom. Always an outstanding student, he graduated valedictorian from the University of Utah in 1943. Immediately upon graduating he was drafted by the Army and sent to medical school at the University of California, San Francisco. Liddle excelled in medical school, was senior class president and one of three seniors admitted to the Gold Headed Cane Society, After graduation he became the first research fellow in the newly established Metabolic Research Unit at UCSF. He reluctantly left San Francisco in 1953 to serve as senior assistant surgeon at the National Heart Institute at NIH.

In 1956, Dr. Hugh Morgan offered Liddle the position of chief of the Endocrine Service at Vanderbilt. Dr. Morgan also hired Liddle's close associate Donald Island as Technical Director of the Endocrine Laboratories at Vanderbilt. Together they made important contributions to the development of modern clinical endocrinology, including the pharmacology of steroid hormones, tests of pituitary -adrenal gland function, and pathophysiology and treatment of Cushing's syndrome.

Grant Liddle served as chair of the Department of Medicine from 1968 until 1983. He received many honors during his distinguished career. One of his greatest accomplishments was training over 40 fellows who went on to hold important positions in academic endocrinology.