William Bronston | |
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 Bronston in 1981 | |
| Born | March 1939 (age 85) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Education | |
| Children | 2 |
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William Bronston (born March 1939) is an American physician and activist known for his involvement in the deinstitutionalization of Willowbrook State School in the early 1970s. Born in Los Angeles, Bronston graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles and the USC School of Medicine. At USC, he was a prominent student activist, organizing social and political public health projects and co-founding the New Left Student Health Organization. After graduating from USC in 1965, Bronston began his residency at the Menninger School of Psychiatry in Kansas, but was expelled from the institution after leading a sit-in for improvements in wages and working conditions for direct support professionals.
After his expulsion in 1968, Bronston moved to New York City where he briefly worked at a Black Panther Party medical clinic before leaving to become a staff physician at Willowbrook State School, a state institution for children with intellectual disabilities. At Willowbrook, Bronston quickly became critical of the institution's leadership and standards, clashing with Jack Hammond, the institute's director. In 1971, Bronston went public with his grievances and organized a movement to reform the institution, which culminated in a 1975 court decision deinstitutionalizing the school. Afterwards, Bronston returned to California, where he became the medical director of the Department of Developmental Disabilities at the California Department of Health and later at the California Department of Rehabilitation.