Abstract
Dr Jess R Young was a true pioneer and leader in the field of vascular medicine and the first President of the Society for Vascular Medicine (SVM) (Figure 1). He taught many fellows, residents, interns, and medical students as well as nurses and vascular laboratory technologists about vascular medicine through a career that spanned four decades (1959–1999). He was recognized as teacher of the year at Cleveland Clinic on multiple occasions.
Jess R. Young, MD, MSVM (1928–2021)
Jess Young was born February 4, 1928, and he died August 13, 2021. He served in the United States Army from 1946 to 1947. He completed his Bachelor of Science degree in 1951 at Steubenville College and earned his medical degree at the St Louis University in 1955. Dr Young did his internship at Highland-Alameda County Hospital in Oakland, California and his internal medicine residency at the Cleveland Clinic from 1956 to 1959. Following his residency, he joined the staff of the Cleveland Clinic in the department of Vascular Medicine along with Drs Fay LeFevre and Victor deWolfe. He became chairman of the department of Vascular Medicine from 1976 to 1997, retiring in 1999. During these years, Dr Young established the department as the preeminent clinical vascular medicine program in the United States and fostered the development of the largest sustained training program in this field.
On the personal front, Jess married Gloria Wynn in 1953. They had two children, Patti and James, and one granddaughter, Grace. He was devoted to his wife and family. He also had a great love for the game of golf.
Jess was one of a lost breed of clinicians who made the correct diagnosis by performing a careful history and physician examination and not relying on imaging studies as many physicians do today. He stressed that keen powers of observation along with a thorough physical examination would lead to the correct diagnosis. His Socratic method of teaching emphasized these concepts to all who were lucky enough to train and work closely with him. 1 When Jess spoke (often very softly), everyone listened.
One of the best (and at times stressful) experiences for those fortunate enough to train under Dr Young, and those of us who worked with him every day, was the Tuesday morning ‘angio’ conference. A fellow would present a case and then interpret an arteriogram, venogram, or an occasional lymphoscintigram. Jess would then question the individual. When Jess asked a question, he expected an answer. While waiting for the answer his eyes bored into those of the fellows. He had the innate ability to ask a question that exposed the fellow’s missing observation, illogic thought process, or unwarranted confidence. The intent of the learning experience was to expose what you did not know. He would continue questioning in order to help the fellow work his or her way through the problem. Even the faculty members would be on guard as Jess would also correct them if they stated something inaccurate. The standing joke (among former fellows) was that before the Tuesday morning angio conference, doses of beta blockers were handed out to calm all of those attending.
At the conclusion of a Tuesday angio conference during which he might have been particularly hard on a fellow (he only did this with those he believed would be leaders), he would invite that individual to his office. He would mention that he noticed the fellow was not happy with how he was questioned during the conference. He would then state that, ‘I just wanted you to know that I do this to make you better’. This was a perfect example of his self-divulged motivation and care he felt for those he trained.
Dr Young not only received teaching honors within the Cleveland Clinic, but also received other awards including the Julius H Jacobsen, MD award (physician excellence, presented by the Vascular Disease Foundation) and ATLAS award (A Teacher, Leader And Scholar, presented by the Vascular InterVentional Advances (VIVA) Foundation). Both awards were given as marks of distinction for educating others in the field of vascular medicine.
Jess was a founding member of the Society for Vascular Medicine (initially known as the Society for Vascular Medicine and Biology) in 1988, and its first president (Figure 2). He was a lifelong member of the Society. In 2010, SVM created the Jess R Young Outstanding Vascular Medicine Educator Award, which is given each year during the Society’s annual meeting to an outstanding vascular medicine educator.
Founding members of the Society for Vascular Medicine and Biology in Anaheim, California on March 19, 1989.
Jess was instrumental in establishing the noninvasive vascular laboratory for patients with peripheral vascular disease in 1977 at the Cleveland Clinic. It was one of the first of its kind in the nation. In 2013, the vascular laboratory at the Cleveland Clinic’s main campus was dedicated in his name.
Jess was also a founding member and board member of the Intersocietal Commission for the Accreditation of Vascular Laboratories (ICAVL), formed to establish a minimum set of standards for the accreditation of vascular laboratories in 1990 (Figure 3).
Jess had the foresight to help organize an endovascular program in the early 1990s at the Cleveland Clinic, working with other departments, including cardiology, vascular surgery, and interventional radiology.
Dr Young representing the Society for Vascular Medicine among the founding members of the Intersocietal Commission for the Accreditation of Vascular Laboratories (ICAVL) (approximately 1990 or 1991).
He was a national policy maker, working with other leaders across the United States on American College of Cardiology (ACC) Policy Statements: ‘Recommendations for training in vascular medicine’ and ‘Recommendations for peripheral transluminal angioplasty: Training and facilities’.2,3
He authored more than 100 publications in scientific journals. He was the editor of one of the premier textbooks on peripheral vascular diseases published in 1991 followed by a second edition in 1996.4,5
Jess was a Master of the Society for Vascular Medicine (MSVM), a fellow in the American College of Physicians, ACC, and Stroke Council of the American Medical Association (AMA). He was also a member of the Inter-national Cardiovascular Society and Thrombosis Coun-=cil of the AMA.
In sum, Jess R Young was the complete physician: clinician, teacher, researcher, and scholar and department leader. Jess once said:
If you can find something that you really enjoy doing and look forward to going to work every day and not dreading it, then you are a very lucky guy. All through the years, all of us in the department enjoyed working with each other and sharing problems and I think that I was really blessed to get into that specialty and be a part of the milieu of good people who like to work together.
Those of us who worked with Jess, felt that we were the ones who were very lucky to have worked alongside and learned from such a special man.
