[4] He also attended Dartmouth College training[5] and served in a non-combat role in the United States Navy during World War II from 1943 to 1946.

[4] From 1956 to 1996, Lawrence conducted both clinical and research activity at Memorial-Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center of Cornell Medical College.

[8] ...Walter personally mentored many Black surgical oncologists, fighting the good fight to diversify our workforce, which back then was much more homogeneous than it is today...Living in the former capital of the Confederacy, Walter witnessed racism on a daily basis.When the Southern Surgical Association declined to admit his friend Dr. LaSalle Leffall, because he was Black, and the American Medical Association refused to intervene on Leffall's behalf, Walter resigned from both groups.

Until last year, he was using his platform to speak on behalf of the least heard voices, ensuring that everyone has access to affordable, world-class healthcare.

"[8] In 1966, Lawrence became Vice-Chair of Surgery and Chair of the first academic Division of Surgical Oncology in the United States at the Medical College of Virginia.