William T. Belfield (1856–1929) was a pioneering American urologist and medical educator who made significant contributions to the fields of surgery and microbiology during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Belfield spent most of his youth in Chicago. He pursued his medical education at Rush Medical College, graduating with his medical doctorate in 1877. Following his graduation, he traveled throughout Europe to gain advanced surgical experience before returning to Rush Medical College, where he was appointed chair of the department of urology in 1883.
Belfield is most widely recognized for performing what is credited as the first intentional suprapubic prostatectomy, a landmark surgical procedure he conducted at Cook County Hospital between 1885 and 1887. Though it is debated whether the procedure was a partial or complete prostatectomy, his pioneering work was ultimately acknowledged as a historical first, even by contemporary rivals such as British surgeon Arthur Fergusson McGill. Beyond his surgical milestones, Belfield was a major proponent of microbiology in the United States. He played a crucial role in reporting Robert Koch's discovery of Mycobacterium tuberculosis to the American medical community and later served as the sixth president of the American Urological Association.
