Kenneth R. Crispell (October 30, 1916 - August 23, 1996), University Professor of Law and Medicine at the University of Virginia, was born in Ithaca, New York. Educated at Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Cornell University, he earned his M.D. from the University of Michigan in 1943. He then interned at the Robert Packer Hospital in Sayre, Pennsylvania for one year and then had a medical residency for one year at the Guthrie Clinic in Sayre.

He served two years in the Army Medical Corps during 1944-1946. Following his discharge, he was in private practice for six months and then was appointed a Fellow in Internal Medicine at the Ochsner Clinic in New Orleans, 1947-1948 and a Fellow in Biophysics at Tulane University, 1948-1949.

Dr. Crispell joined the University of Virginia in 1949 as a Commonwealth fellow and was made Instructor in Internal Medicine at the same time. He was promoted to Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine in 1951 and to Associate Professor in 1955. In 1958, he resigned his position to become professor of medicine and chairman of the department at New York Medical College.

Appointed professor of medicine at the University of Virginia in 1960, he became acting dean of the Medical School in 1962 and dean in July 1964,serving in that position until 1971. Dr. Crispell subsequently served as Vice President for Health Sciences from 1971 to 1976.

Dr. Crispell's main themes of research and publication focused on endocrinology and metabolism. He authored or co-authored more than forty articles published in national scientific and medical journals.

A fellow of the American College of Physicians, he was a member of numerous professional societies including Alpha Omega Alpha, Sigma Xi, the American Society of Clinical Investigation and the Association of American Physicians. He authored some 60 books and publications concerning various aspects of internal medicine, medical education, and endocrinology.

Former chairman of the visiting committees of the University of Massachusetts and Duke University medical centers, Dr. Crispell also chaired the Association of American Medical Colleges Task Force on Foreign Medical Graduates. He served on the Governor's Advisory Committee for Virginia Regional Medical Programs, the Governor's Study Commisssion for Medical Facilities for Roanoke, the executive council of the Association of American Medical Colleges and the Association of Academic Health Centers, as well as on numerous advisory committees at the National Institutes of Health and the Institute of Medicine. Dr. Crispell was also engaged in a three-year study of the 25th Amendment--The Presidential Succession Amendment.