Legacy of Excellence Digital Flipbook

LEGACY OF EXCELLENCE: JONAS T. JOHNSON, MD PRESIDENT FROM 2002-2003

W hen I was a freshman in medical school, each of us was asked to identify someone who would be our mentor,” Jonas T. Johnson, MD, said. “And I chose an otolaryngologist. I chose him because he seemed like a nice man, but probably because an otolaryngologist was the only doctor I had ever really had any interaction with as a child.” Dr. Johnson’s mentor was George Reed, MD, who in 1968 was chair of the Department of Otolaryngology at the State University of New York Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, New York. “I had a chance to go to the operating room and interact with the ENT residents and of course with Dr. Reed and his faculty. I found it all very appealing.” Dr. Johnson went on to explain his training, “I finished my residency in 1977 [but] I had an obligation to the Air Force, so I went into the Air Force on what was then called the Berry Plan.” The Berry Plan was a Vietnam War-era program in the United States that allowed physicians to defer obligatory military service until they had completed medical school and residency training. “If you wanted to be protected for your training, you did the Berry Plan.” Following his two-year obligation to the Air Force, Dr. Johnson found himself looking for a job, so he once again called Dr. Reed and asked how he could contribute academically. Dr. Reed suggested that he ask to be put on a task force of people who wanted to help create items that would make up the certifying exam of the American Board of Otolaryngology, which he did. At the same time, he became increasingly involved with the education side of the AAO-HNSF. “All of our educational materials were print, of course,” Dr. Johnson

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said. “There were self-instructional packages, patient a-month programs, and a home-study course. Around 1994, I was lucky enough to be appointed a Coordinator for Education, and I believe that was a six-year term. It was nice because it afforded me the opportunity to serve on the Board of Directors [and] interact with so many other wonderful otolaryngologists who [were] contributing to the educational efforts of the Academy.” At the end of his term as Coordinator for Education, which he served from 1994-2001, Dr. Johnson was nominated and elected to serve as President of the AAO-HNS/F from 2002-2003. He remembered 2001 2002, when he served in the position of President-elect,

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