William (Bill) L. Elkins, an emeritus associate professor of pathology and laboratory medicine in what is today the Perelman School of Medicine, died on November 11, 2025, of complications from pneumonia. He was 93. 

The great-great-grandson of Philadelphia business tycoon William Lukens Elkins, Dr. Elkins was born in Boston but spent much of his childhood in rural Pocopson, Pennsylvania. He attended boarding school in Massachusetts for four years and earned a bachelor’s degree in biology at Princeton University. He then earned his medical degree at Harvard University in 1958 and served two years at the U.S. Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. After undertaking a surgical internship in New York, he found that he preferred conducting research, so he took a position in Philadelphia at the Wistar Institute of Biomedical Research from 1959 to 1962. 

In 1969, Dr. Elkins joined the faculty of Penn’s School of Medicine as an assistant professor of pathology and laboratory medicine; two years later, he became an associate professor. While at Penn, Dr. Elkins conducted pioneering research on how the human immune system fights infection and disease. He worked with colleagues in Philadelphia and around the country to conduct pivotal research on bone marrow transplants and pediatric oncology. His work contributed to new and more effective medical procedures at Penn, the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and elsewhere; during his time at Penn, Dr. Elkins also lectured in nursing and in pediatrics. 

In 1987, he retired from Penn as an emeritus associate professor. After leaving Penn, Dr. Elkins and his wife, Helen, bought the nearly 300-acre Buck Run Farm south of Coatesville, Pennsylvania, and Dr. Elkins became an expert on breeding cattle and growing the high-energy grass they eat. He championed holistic regenerative farming, rejecting commercial fertilizer and using new scientific systems to feed his cattle, informed by knowledge of soil composition, grass growing, and body fat in cattle. He helped found the Southeast Regional Cattlemen’s Association in 1994 and sold his beefsteaks, patties, jerky sticks, and kielbasa grillers to butchers, restaurants, and private customers.

Dr. Elkins is survived by his wife, Helen; his children, Sheila and Jake; and five grandchildren and other relatives. Donations in his name may be made to the Stroud Water Research Center, 970 Spencer Road, Avondale, PA 19311.