Cornelius Rosse, MD, DSc

Cornelius Rosse is a Professor of Biological Structure at the University of Washington School of Medicine. He received his BSc degree in anatomy with honors, and his medical degree (MB, ChB) from the University of Bristol, England. The same university also granted him both the MD and DSc degrees in recognition of his research on hematopoietic cell differentiation and lymphocyte biology. Dr. Rosse has combined his biological research with medical education and administration. Until recently, he was Chairman of the Department of Biological Structure at the University of Washington. He has published three textbooks related to anatomy, taught anatomy at the Royal College of Surgeons of England, and has worked extensively with the National Board of Medical Examiners. More recently, Dr. Rosse has focused his research interests on knowledge representation in anatomy. He established the Digital Anatomist Program at the University of Washington, which has served as an impetus and prototype for the National Library of Medicine's Visible Human Project. In collaboration with investigators from computer science, informatics, and clinical medicine, the laboratory pursues spatial and symbolic modeling of anatomy in parallel. These knowledge sources are integrated and made available on-line for anatomy education as a test bed for an information system. Dr. Rosse is a member of the Biomedical Library Review Committee of NLM, serves on the Executive Board of the National Board of Medical Examiners and has been elected a Fellow of AAAS. Dr. Rosse's contributions to education have been recognized by numerous teaching awards at the University of Washington, and he has also received the national Distinguished Basic Science Teacher Award from the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society sponsored by the Association of American Medical Colleges.