Edward J. Van Liere (1895–1979) was an American physiologist, physician, and academic administrator. He joined West Virginia University as professor of physiology in 1921 and served as dean of the WVU School of Medicine from 1937 to 1960, expanding it from a two-year program into a fully accredited four-year school — work that earned him the title Father of the WVU Medical Center. His scientific research centered on anoxia, or oxygen deprivation, and its physiological effects. Alongside his medical career, Van Liere was a devoted Sherlockian and a founding member of The Scion of Four, a Morgantown Sherlock Holmes society formed in 1952. He wrote essays examining the medical and physiological details embedded in Arthur Conan Doyle's detective fiction, many first published in scientific journals and later collected in his 1959 book A Doctor Enjoys Sherlock Holmes. He also co-authored History of Medical Education in West Virginia with Gideon S. Dodds. He died on 5 September 1979.
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