John Ross Jr., MD, MACC, ACC president from 1986 to 1987 and a pioneer in cardiovascular research, recently passed away in his home in La Jolla, CA. He was 90 years old.

Ross was a Distinguished Professor of Medicine Emeritus at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine. As a graduate of Dartmouth College and the Cornell Medical College, he received clinical and research training at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, the Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center and the New York Hospital-Weill Cornell Medical Center.

Following his training, Ross served at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, MD, where he is credited for the development of transseptal left heart catheterization in 1958. In 1968, Ross joined cardiovascular legend Eugene Braunwald, MD, MACC, at the new UC San Diego School of Medicine where he expanded his research to include, among other things, the working of heart valves and use of gene therapy to treat disease. He retired in 2005.

Ross leaves behind a rich legacy – one that lives on in his published research and the thousands of medical students he trained and mentored throughout his career.

"We are so proud of being Dr. Ross's fellows, and we could have had no better mentor," wrote Ciro Indolfi, MD, FACC, and Shunichi Miyazaki, MD, PhD, FACC, in a Journal of the American College of Cardiology (JACC) editorial. "The death of John Ross Jr., is an immeasurable loss for the entire cardiology community."

Clinical Topics: Cardiovascular Care Team

Keywords: Students, Medical, Mentors, New York, National Institutes of Health (U.S.), Fellowships and Scholarships, Research, Heart Valves, Cardiac Catheterization, Genetic Therapy

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