Miami U. grad, now a doctor, returns to campus 56 years later, gives $1 million after visit

OXFORD — Dr. William McIntyre, a 1968 graduate of Miami University, recently visited the campus for the first time since earning his diploma 56 years ago.

McIntyre was so impressed with the school’s now much-larger main campus, especially Miami’s new $96 million Clinical Health Sciences and Wellness Facility, that he left something behind when he departed: a $1 million donation.

His $1 million gift will fund an endowment for an advisor position in Miami University’s Mallory-Wilson Center for Healthcare Education, said school officials.

McIntyre, who majored in biological sciences while a Miami undergrad, later went on to medical school and then decades of a successful career.

“I’m pleased that I can help future Miami University students aspire and achieve a career in medicine,” the doctor told Miami officials. “I credit the academic excellence and all-around campus experience I had in Oxford with allowing me to launch a 52-year path of education and the practice of medicine.

“The academic curriculum at Miami allowed me to obtain a first-class education at some of the finest centers of excellence in medicine — the University of Chicago, Emory University, and the University of Minnesota.”

Retired in 2016, he was accompanied on his trip down collegiate memory lane by his wife and fellow physician Dr. Laura Martin. The two live in Colorado.

“I’m just blown away by what Miami has done here in the last few years,” he said.

For 14 years, McIntyre was a hospitalist and gastroenterologist in an underserved area on the Eastern Shore of Virginia.

In 1990, he moved to the Cheyenne V.A. Medical Center in Wyoming, where he set up the endoscopy lab and liver and oncology clinics. He served two terms as chief of medicine.

His career also included a stint as an associate professor of Medicine with the Medical College of Virginia, time at the University of Colorado Medical School and the University of Wyoming Family Practice Residency.

He decided to fund a second faculty member to advise Miami students and prepare them for the challenges of medical school and of being a physician. And to show his gratitude for the undergraduate education he received from Miami.

“I’ve had a good life. No regrets,” he said. “I would love to come back to Miami and do it all over again.”

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