William D. Salmon, Jr., graduated from Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in 1949. As a fellow in endocrinology in the Department of Medicine of Barnes Hospital, Washington University, he began investigation of a plasma factor separate from insulin necessary for the action of growth hormone on cartilage; he and his associates named this the sulfation factor. Following his appointment at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Nashville as assistant chief of the medical service in 1957 (an appointment he held until retirement), Salmon continued studies of this factor, subsequently recognized as one of the earliest growth factors to be studied in a laboratory setting and renamed somatomedin. Salmon has held the rank of full professor since 1974 and was named Professor of Medicine, Emeritus, in 1995.