Dr. John Harris is the Father of Emergency Radiology

Dr. John H. Harris Jr., who has blazed many trails in emergency radiology from writing the first comprehensive textbook that established its concept to being a founding member of the American Society of Emergency Radiology (ASER), has received the first Gold Medal given by that society for his lifetime contribution.

Considered the Father of Emergency Radiology, Dr. Harris is chief of emergency radiology at Memorial Hermann Hospital, a professor of radiology at The University of Texas-Houston Medical School and holder of the John S. Dunn Distinguished Chair in Radiology.

In addition to being a founding member of ASER, Dr. Harris was its first president, first program committee chair, constructed the society by-laws and remains its by-law committee chair. He is associate editor of Emergency Radiology, the society's official journal, and was the second Alan Klein Memorial lecturer.

Since its inception in 1988, the society has grown to over 450-member radiologists. These professionals are either devoted to the clinical, teaching and research aspects of this specialty, or they have a primary clinical interest in the imaging aspects of the initial evaluation of acutely ill or injured patients seen in emergency centers.

The founding members of ASER, including Dr. Harris, recognized from their personal experience, that the imaging aspects of the initial assessment of the acutely ill or injured patient is a unique body of radiologic knowledge that required teaching and experience not available in most radiology residency training programs. "This realization was directly analogous to that which led to the creation of the specialty of Emergency Medicine," explains Dr. Harris. ASER is recognized as a radiologic subspeciality by the American College of Radiology.

Before joining the faculty of the department of radiology at the UT-Houston Medical School, Dr. Harris spent 20 years in the private practice of radiology in Carlisle, Penn. During that time, he developed a keen interest in the radiologic features of acute illness and trauma. This interest, and the realization that there was no textbook devoted to this aspect of radiology, motivated Dr. Harris to write the first text on this subject, The Radiology of Emergency Medicine, published in 1975. That text is now in its fourth edition and considered to be the genesis of Emergency Radiology.

Dr. Harris was elected the 32nd honorary member of the American College of Emergency Physicians (1991), an associate member of the American Association of Orthopedic Surgeons (1989), was the Baker Lecturer of the Royal Australian College of Radiologists in 1996, and was awarded honorary fellowship in that College. He was chairman of the Board of Chancellors of the American College of Radiology from 1980 to 1982, and president in 1982.

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©2006 Texas Medical Center

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