Dr. John W. Burnside: Consummate physician, ethicist

By Gregg Shields

Dr. John W. Burnside, a longtime faculty member and former Associate Dean at UT Southwestern Medical Center, passed away in San Angelo in May. He was 74.

Dr. John W. Burnside
Dr. John W. Burnside

Before retiring in 2000, Dr. Burnside served as Professor of Internal Medicine, and as Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs and Associate Dean for Professional Education. He came to UT Southwestern in 1987 from the Pennsylvania State Hershey College of Medicine, where he held a number of positions before becoming Vice Dean and Associate Vice President for Health Affairs.

At UT Southwestern, he was the initial recipient of the Irene Wadel and Robert Atha, Jr. Professorship of Internal Medicine, in Honor of John W. Burnside, M.D., an endowment now held by Dr. Steven Leach, Chief Medical Officer for UT Southwestern University Hospitals, and Professor and Associate Vice Chair for Clinical Operations in the Department of Internal Medicine. In endowing the chair in Dr. Burnside’s honor, Ms. Wadel said, “He’s not just a distinguished medical doctor, he is a rare human being who listens to his patients and cares for them as a physician in the truest sense of the word.”

Dr. Willis Maddrey, Professor of Internal Medicine and Assistant to the President, said: “Dr. Burnside was a consummate clinician who provided excellent care to his patients.  He was an exemplary role model for UT Southwestern students and colleagues alike. Dr. Burnside was widely admired for his clinical skills and his patient-centered approach. His background and training were outstanding.  He was active in local, state, and national medical affairs.”

A native Pennsylvanian, Dr. Burnside graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign before earning his medical degree from the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Chicago.  He completed his internship and residencies in medicine and pathology at Massachusetts General Hospital, where he was Chief Resident, and also taught and completed a fellowship at Harvard University.

Dr. Burnside also received a Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellowship in Washington, D.C., and was a well-known and respected medical ethicist.

“Getting to know my patients is one of the things that makes life so much fun for me,” Dr. Burnside had said upon receiving the Wadel and Atha Professorship in 1993. “More often than not, I get more life experiences from my patients than I give them in medical care.”

After officially retiring, Dr. Burnside remained active in medicine, including writing a 2008 paper for The American Journal of Medicine, and serving as resident physician at the San Angelo State Supported Living Center.

Memorials may be made to the John Burnside Memorial Fund Volunteer Services Council, P.O. Box 38, Carlsbad, Texas 76934.

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Dr. Maddrey holds the Adelyn and Edmund M. Hoffman Distinguished Chair in Medical Science, and the Arnold N. and Carol S. Ablon Professorship in Biomedical Science.