Dr. John Robert Ward, who founded the University of Utah School of Medicine's Division of Rheumatology, died Nov. 1, 2004, at the hospital where he had trained medical students and treated patients for more than 30 years. He was 80.
Dr. Ward founded the division in the Department of Internal Medicine in 1957 and was its leader until 1988, building one of the most respected academic rheumatology programs in the country. The division grew from a faculty of one to 11, its funded research from $50,000 to more than $2 million and its caseload to more than 11,000. He retired in 1993 as professor emeritus of internal medicine.
"As grateful as we are for his role as one of our school's pioneering and committed leaders, we are equally enriched by his legacy as a gifted teacher and a caring, compassionate physician dedicated to easing the suffering of thousands of patients with arthritis and other disabling diseases," said Dr. A. Lorris Betz, senior vice president for health sciences and dean of the medical school.
Dr. Ward founded and served from 1976 to 1983 as director of a multi-institutional center for clinical drug studies that was funded by the National Institutes of Health. Early on, he coordinated the clinical trials nationwide that helped establish the drug methotrexate as a favored treatment for arthritis.
He also wrote 250 scientific papers, book chapters and books and served on the editorial boards of the most prestigious journals in the field of arthritis and rheumatism.
He was also instrumental in establishing the Department of Preventive Medicine (now Family and Preventive Medicine) at the medical school and chaired that department from 1966-1970.
Dr. Ward received numerous honors, including Outstanding Professor and Professor of the Year. He received the Distinguished Rheumatology Award from the American College of Rheumatology, one of his specialty's greatest honors. He was a fellow of the American College of Physicians and received the Utah chapter's Laureate Award. The Utah Arthritis Foundation named him Man of the Year.
Dr. Ward earned his bachelor's degree from the U. in 1944 and his M.D. in 1946. He served his residency at Salt Lake County General Hospital. where he also met his wife of 56 years, Norma Harris.
From 1951-1953, he was in the U.S. Army Medical Corps, then joined the U. medical school faculty. He also served a two-year fellowship in medicine at Harvard Medical School and a clinical fellowship in medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.
During a sabbatical from the U., he earned his master of public health degree at the University of California Berkeley School of Public Health.
Funeral services will be Friday at 11 a.m. at the Winder 8th Ward, 1361 E. 4000 South.