Established by his children Catherine and Christopher Cornett in memory of their father, William Cornett, M.D. 1945.
Dr. William Cornett attended Queen's University from 1940-45. He was captain of the Queen's Juvenile Basketball Team and medical editor of the Tricolour. He interned at the Ontario Hospital at Rockwood and earned his degrees of Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) and Master of Surgery (C.M.) in 1945. He also received the Victor Lyall Goodwill Memorial Prize of $100.00. He served on Queen's University Permanent Executive Medicine, was President of the Alma Mater Society (1944-45) and received the Tricolour Award in 1945.
He served in the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corp. (1943-46) in the service rank of Captain. He received the Canadian Volunteer Service Medal and the War Medal 1939-45.
Between the years of 1946-59, he practised general medicine in Stirling, Ontario. During this time, he served two terms as President of the Hastings and Prince Edward Medical Society and one term as Secretary-Treasurer. He also served on the Council of the Ontario Medical Association.
In 1959, he joined Ortho Pharmaceutical (Canada) Ltd. as Medical Director and was responsible for the company's program of clinical research. In 1964, he received the Distinguished Contribution Award from Ortho Pharmaceutical (Canada) Ltd. in appreciation of his outstanding achievements in the service of his company. Dr. Cornett was also named Medical Director for McNeil Laboratories (Canada) Ltd. Ortho and McNeil are both members of the Johnson & Johnson family of companies.
He was elected to the Board of Directors of Ortho in 1965. He assumed responsibility for the Medical Department affairs and Clinical Research Program of McNeil. Dr. Cornett was awarded the Johnson Medal for Research and Development in 1967 from Johnson & Johnson for his outstanding contributions to the clinical evaluation of oral contraceptives in Canada. The Johnson Medal is awarded at the discretion of the Johnson & Johnson Board of Directors to scientists throughout the world-wide organization for exceptional achievements with the extensive research and development program. It was the first time it was given for clinical research.
Under Dr. Cornett's direction, numerous clinical research programs were established in Canada including those to study Ortho-Novum contraceptive tablets. Much of the success and wide acceptance of this oral contraceptive has been attributed to Dr. Cornett's pioneer work in this area.
In 1969, he was appointed Executive Director of the Medical Division, McNeil Laboratories Inc., Fort Washington, Pennsylvania. He was responsible for the overall direction of the McNeil clinical research program in the U.S. He was also a consultant to the Canadian clinical research program of McNeil Laboratories (Canada) Ltd.
He moved to Florida in 1973 and continued to work on a part-time basis for McNeil Laboratories until 1988 when he fully retired. Dr. Cornett died in August, 2001 and was buried in Sebring, Florida.
