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Behind every successful physician there are mentors to light the path. Ralph Waters, founder of the anesthesiology residency at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, was an instrumental part of Virginia Apgar's success; his support of her education and promotion of her professional endeavors proved to shape the medical powerhouse that Apgar would become. In this article, we learn about the professional and personal relationship between Waters and Apgar through personal correspondence from the Ralph Waters Collection at University of Wisconsin Archives, scientific publications, and meeting records. Through his support of her career, she was able to achieve success despite the Great Depression, World War II, and the novelty of being a woman in medicine. In her career, Apgar became the first female full professor at Columbia University, designed and implemented the Apgar score, and led the Division of Congenital Malformations at the March of Dimes among many other accomplishments. Though they lived half of a country apart in Wisconsin and in New York, the mentor and mentee bridged the gap in geography through regular correspondence, American Society of Anesthetists (now American Society of Anesthesiologists) meetings (where Waters served as president and Apgar as treasurer), and exchange of trainees between the University of Wisconsin at Madison and Columbia University. Apgar revealed herself to be a persistent, hardworking, intelligent, and passionate academic physician - the perfect pupil for Waters. This article's aim is to underscore the importance of mentorship - with equal commitment to the relationship from mentor and mentee - then and now., (Published by Elsevier Inc.)

The second annual meeting of any organization is almost as critical as the first. A second meeting begins to assure the viability and importance of the organization. After the very successful first meeting of the Anesthetists' Travel Club in Rochester, Minnesota, in December of 1929, Ralph Waters (1883-1979) was charged with hosting the 1930 meeting at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. The meeting was held Thursday December 18th through Saturday December 20th. Dr. Waters started the meeting at 8:00 am with a tour of the operating rooms of the Wisconsin General Hospital. Lunch followed at the Memorial Union with the afternoon split between experimental surgery, and the anatomy, and physiology laboratories. There was an early dinner before the group took in the basketball game between the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Wisconsin. Friday's meeting was very similar; starting in the operating rooms at 8:00 am followed by a Union Club lunch. The afternoon was spent in the Pharmacology laboratory with a 4:00 pm lecture entitled "Demonstration Clinical Effects of Barbiturates in Neuropsychiatry". Dinner was held at the University Club. Saturday's program followed the same lines, but with an afternoon tea and a dinner at the Waters' home. In February1931, almost a year to the date from his first note, Waters wrote to those who had attended the meeting. He followed up on the clinical cases the group had seen, and commented upon the Guedel-Waters balloons for endotracheal tubes and the spinal he had performed. He even commented upon the use of cyclopropane in obstetrics. Thus, the Anesthetists' Travel Club meeting in 1930 successfully concluded., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)