William Douglas Ward (August 25, 1874 – May 13, 1936) was an American college football player and coach, physician and surgeon.

He was a pioneer in early surgical procedures to construct artificial vaginas and published an article on the subject in 1915.

His father, Frank Addison Ward, was a Rochester native, a Princeton alumnus, and the chief executive of Ward's Natural Science Establishment, a company that supplied natural history specimens to colleges, museums and collectors in the United States and Europe.

[7] In December 1894, The New York Times wrote: W. Douglas Ward, '95, quarter back, hails from Rochester, N. Y., and comes of an old family of Princeton athletes, his father having captained the baseball team of his day.

"[12] In another piece, he noted that he "tried for a year to instill Princeton ideas, along with a little knowledge into the heads of the younger generation.

[14] He was assisted in coaching the team by William McCauley (during the month of October), Keene Fitzpatrick and James Robinson.

The team went undefeated and allowed only four points in its first nine games, including victories over Michigan Normal (18–0), Grand Rapids High School (44–0), Physicians & Surgeons of Chicago (28–0), Rush Lake Forest (66–0), Purdue (16–0), Lehigh (40–0), Minnesota (6–4), Oberlin (10–0), and Wittenberg (28–0).

There are many interesting things in coaching, but there are also some drawbacks and disagreeable features, so that I was glad to be through with it, and able to give myself wholly to the study of medicine.

Many a morning would find me standing beside his operating table instead of on the benches of the lecture room where I belonged, but I have never repented my choice.

[8] In 1905, he published an article titled, "The Possibility of Clean Obstetrical Work in the Slums," in "American Medicine.

"[12] In 1910, Ward presented a paper to the Medical Society of the State of New York titled, "General Peritonitis – Shall We Ask Nature to do Her Own Surgery?

"[19] In 1915, he published an article titled "The Construction of an Artificial Vagina With Establishment of the Menstrual Function" in the journal, Surgery, Gynecology and Obstetrics.

[20] He wrote the article after studying attempts by doctors in Germany and the United States to construct artificial vaginas and after successfully performing the surgery on a 13-year-old girl at Rochester General Hospital.

I believe that the sexual life is very important for the happiness of a very large proportion of mankind, and if a girl finds that part of life is impossible for her she is likely to brood over the loss and imagine it even greater than it is; so if she, fully understanding the danger of the operation, still wishes to have it performed, I am perfectly willing to try to remedy the defect in her anatomy.

[22] At the time of the 1920 United States Census, Ward and his wife continued to reside at 20 Grove Place in Rochester with their two sons.