Background
Dr. Charles “Charlie” T. Ashworth was born in Kaufman, Texas in 1915. He and his wife, Dorothy, had four sons, Dr. Robert David Ashworth, J. Michael Ashworth, Dr. Stanley Warren Ashworth, and C. Taylor Ashworth, and eleven grandchildren.
Dr. Ashworth passed away in 1985.
Medical Education & Practice
Dr. Ashworth completed his undergraduate education at North Texas State University. He received his MD degree from Baylor College of Medicine in Dallas in 1938, and did his internship at Baltimore City Hospital in Maryland. He completed his pathology residency at Baylor studying under Dr. George T. Caldwell. After studying pathology with Dr. Caldwell, Dr. Ashworth became enamored with the subject, believing that pathology was the basic and scientific part of medicine because it dealt with the biology of the disease.
In 1940 Dr. Ashworth became an instructor in the Department of Pathology at Baylor Medical Center in Dallas. He was lauded by the American Medical Association for his publications on plasma, shock, and other issues that were of medical significance during wartime. When Baylor’s medical college moved to Houston, Dr. Ashworth remained in Dallas and continued teaching until he moved to Fort Worth.
In 1948 Dr. Ashworth moved to Fort Worth to work with Terrell Laboratories, but longing for getting back in academia, in 1957 he returned to Dallas to teach and research at The University of Texas Southwestern Medical School. He had a reputation for being an engaging teacher who always made himself available to his students and for exhibiting compassion and care for his patients. He was also an expert in electron microscopy and developed the electron microscopy program at UT Southwestern. From 1957 until 1967, he served as professor and chairman of the Department of Pathology.
Dr. Ashworth made considerable contributions to the medical literature. He focused much of his research on cellular changes that occur in disease, particularly looking at the role of the liver in the body’s utilization of fat droplets, which play a role in arteriosclerosis. His research laid the groundwork for understanding endocytosis as applied to lipids and other substances, and was likely a precursor for Brown and Goldstein’s Nobel-Prize winning work in cholesterol metabolism.
In 1968 Dr. Ashworth established what became known as AM Laboratories. He continued in private practice of anatomical and clinical pathology until his death in 1985, by which time he had published over one hundred papers.
Texas Society of Pathologists
Dr. Ashworth joined the TSP in 1944. He assisted with publications in national, state, and local medical journals, and was instrumental in maintaining the science programs at both the state and national pathology meetings.
Dr. Ashworth served as president of the TSP in 1952, and in 1963 he received the George T. Caldwell, MD Award for his work in furthering pathology in Texas.
Notable Publication(s)
Chears Jr, W. C., & Ashworth, C. T. (1961). Electron microscopic study of the intestinal mucosa in Whipple's disease. Demonstration of encapsulated bacilliform bodies in the lesion. Gastroenterology, 41, 129.
Ashworth, C. T., Stembridge, V. A., & Sanders, E. (1960). Lipid absorption, transport and hepatic assimilation studied with electron microscopy. American Journal of Physiology--Legacy Content, 198(6), 1326-1328.
McGee, W. G., & Ashworth, C. T. (1963). Fine structure of chronic hypertensive arteriopathy in the human kidney. The American journal of pathology, 43(2), 273.