Contact: Wayne Carter, 214-648-3404, [email protected]
UT Southwestern names Dr. William Johnston new chairman of Anesthesiology and Pain Management
DALLAS -- Dec. 3, 2001 - Dr. William E. Johnston, former chief of cardiothoracic anesthesiology at UT Medical Branch in Galveston, has been named chairman of anesthesiology and pain management at UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas.
Johnston, who also served as vice chairman of academic affairs at UT Medical Branch, will hold the Margaret Milam McDermott Distinguished Chair in Anesthesiology and Pain Management at UT Southwestern.
Johnston replaces Dr. Dennis F. Landers, who retired in August after seven years as chairman. Johnston said he is excited about the opportunity at UT Southwestern.
"UT Southwestern has outstanding resources," Johnston said. "There is tremendous potential for growth within the medical center and academically within the department."
Dr. Robert Alpern, dean of Southwestern Medical School, said Johnston will build on the department's tradition of excellence. He said Johnston's track record of simultaneous success in clinical anesthesia, research and departmental leadership made him the selection committee's top choice.
"He's incredibly well-respected by other anesthesiologists and surgeons with whom he has worked," Alpern said. "He has leadership experience and is uniformly liked by people who work under him. In addition, he has been a National Institutes of Health-funded researcher, and that's hard to do while maintaining clinical practice in anesthesiology."
Dr. Duke Samson, chairman of neurological surgery, who co-chaired the search committee with Dr. Robert Rege, chairman of surgery, said the committee considered more than 60 candidates from the United States and Canada.
"Our committee was extremely enthusiastic about him," Samson said. "I've rarely seen that kind of spontaneous enthusiasm for any candidate."
Johnston graduated from Duke University School of Medicine in 1975. He did a surgical residency at Washington University Medical Center and an anesthesiology residency at Massachusetts General Hospital, where he was chief resident. He did a fellowship in anesthesia at Harvard Medical School and a fellowship in intensive care and in cardiac anesthesia at Massachusetts General. He served on the faculty of the Bowman Gray School of Medicine of Wake Forest University from 1981 to 1992.
Johnston is the son of Dr. and Mrs. J. Harvey Johnston of Jackson, Miss. He is married to the former Lynn Jaquith, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Cecil J. Jaquith, also of Jackson. William and Lynn Johnston have two sons: Elliott Joseph, a junior at the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan; and William Forrest, a freshman at Wake Forest University.
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