Jack Malcolm Layton papers

Jack Malcolm Layton was born September 27, 1917 in Ossian, Iowa. He received his MD degree in 1943 from the State University of Iowa, Iowa City and a DSc degree from Luther College, Decorah, Iowa, in 1974. He interned at University Hospitals (Iowa City) in 1943 and then served as a United States Navy Reserve Medical Officer (circa 1944-1945) during World War II. In 1966, after 21 years at the University of Iowa, Dr. Layton accepted an invitation to be the first department head in the UA College of Medicine in Tucson, Arizona. He was Professor and Head of the Department of Pathology for 20 years (5/1/1967-June 29, 1988) and then two more years as Professor Emeritus of Pathology. He also served as Director of Clinical Pathology, University Hospital, Arizona Health Sciences Center (1967-1988). From July 1, 1971 until early 1973 Dr. Layton was Acting Dean of the UA College of Medicine and Acting Director of the UA’s Arizona Medical Center while the founding dean, Merlin K. DuVal, served as President Richard Nixon’s Assistant Secretary of Health in what was then the Department of Health, Education and Welfare.

Dr. Layton held many leadership positions in both national and international professional medical societies including the American Medical Association, the American Society of Clinical Pathologists, International Academy of Pathology, American Board of Pathology and the American Board of Medical Specialties. He also was appointed by the U.S. President Nixon to the Board of Regents of the National Library of Medicine, served on the National Pathology Advisory Council for Veterans Administration, served on Special Medical Advisory Group to the Administrator of the Veterans Administration and was a member of a Scientific Advisory Board to the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology.

Dr. Layton was a diplomat of both the American Board of Pathology and the National Board of Medical Examiners. He received numerous professional honors and was the 1980 recipient of the American Society of Clinical Pathologists’ Ward Burdick Award. The first class of UA College of Medicine graduates honored Layton as "The Father of the Class of '71." Five years later, they honored him again as the teacher they most appreciated in medical school. His research interests included pathology of infectious disease, virology and immunology, electron microscopic fine structure changes in disease and biological activity of teratomas.