William A. Neal Museum of the Health Sciences
The WVU Museum of the Health Sciences is an interdisciplinary museum located on the Health Sciences Campus at West Virginia University. Dedicated in October 2022, the museum strives to preserve and display stories and artifacts of cultural, artistic, historical, and scientific importance to the medical history of West Virginia and its flagship university. Efforts to found this museum began in 2017 under the direction of William Neal, M.D., a professor emeritus and retired pediatric cardiologist at WVU with a passion for history. With Dr. Neal’s vision as well as the support of WVU leadership, the museum has grown from concept to reality—a million dollar institution that will inspire visitors, students, and faculty alike. Exhibitions range from historical medical equipment, such as Civil War surgical instruments, to modern healthcare technology like neurostimulation and telemedicine.
About Dr. William "Bill" A. Neal
Born in 1940, Neal grew up in Huntington, WV. Both his father and his grandfather were physicians, and his father took Neal and his siblings on house calls. These experiences were formative for Neal’s early interest in medicine. By his senior year of high school, Neal later wrote, he “had a burning desire to be a physician” after spending the summer working as an orderly at Huntington’s St. Mary’s Hospital.
Neal attended the West Virginia University School of Medicine, graduating in the class of 1966. WVU’s School of Medicine opened University Hospital and debuted its four-year medical program only two years before Neal matriculated, and his education was markedly different from students who had studied there only a few years before. Notably, during his education at WVU, Neal took an elective in pediatric cardiology, establishing the foundations of his career as a pediatric cardiologist going forward.
While he was an accomplished and nationally respected doctor, Neal also faithfully served his country. In the summer of 1967, Neal enlisted as a naval flight surgeon and was assigned to Carrier Air Wing 14, which was deployed aboard the USS Constellation. Neal served a ten-month tour in Vietnam and Asia before returning to Lemoore, California for four months and then deployed again for a half of a second cruise. He was discharged from active duty in December 1969. In 1986, Neal was appointed to the Naval Research Advisory Committee, where he served until 1993. He served again on the NRAC from 2001 to 2007.
After his naval career, Neal began his residency at the University of Minnesota, furthering his experiences with pediatric cardiology. Dr. Neal was then offered a position in the WVU Pediatrics Department, which he accepted in 1973. Upon his return to Morgantown, Neal founded the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) in the WVU Hospital, providing vital care to neonatal infants. He became the chair of Pediatrics in 1986 and the first medical director of the WVU Children’s Hospital when it opened as a floor of Ruby Memorial Hospital in 1988.
While Neal saved thousands of lives during his forty-year career, perhaps he was proudest of his work on the CARDIAC Project, which screened more than 200,000 West Virginian children from 1998 to 2017 for factors associated with obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. In addition, CARDIAC developed education on healthy lifestyle choices and other interventional methods to mitigate the risk of these health problems. Data from the CARDIAC Project led to the American Academy of Pediatrics revising their guidelines for screening children for elevated cholesterol, showing the truly national impact that Dr. Neal had on pediatric health.
Dr. Neal retired from WVU in 2014. In his retirement, he pursued his other intellectual, recreational, and philanthropic interests. He loved to hike, ski, and boat, keeping his lifestyle active, often doing so with his family. Furthermore, he turned his interest to researching the history of medicine and healthcare at WVU. In 2017, Neal published a biography of Dean Edward Van Liere, the father of the four-year WVU Medical Program and University Hospital, and shortly after, he advocated for and supported with a family endowment the creation of a museum that educated visitors on the health sciences. This, of course, became the William A. Neal Museum of the Health Sciences. Unfortunately, Dr. Neal did not live to see the Health Sciences Museum open.
In addition to the Neal Museum, Dr. Neal also devoted his twilight years to another great endeavor: the creation of WVU Children’s Hospital. This state-of-the-art facility, which opened in September 2022, will continue to provide life-saving medical care for babies, children, and families across West Virginia for years.
William A. Neal passed away on January 1, 2021. He did not live to see his visions of WVU Children’s Hospital or the Neal Museum of the Health Sciences completed, partially due to construction delays during the COVID-19 Pandemic. At the William A. Neal Museum of the Health Sciences, we strive to honor Dr. Neal’s legacy and memory as we continue his efforts to educate people about the rich history and progress that healthcare in West Virginia has made throughout the years.