In Memoriam: Jack W. Coburn, MD

Jack W. Coburn, MD, Professor of Medicine and esteemed member of the faculty of the VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System–Wadsworth and the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA died unexpectedly Sunday, April 4, 2004. Dr. Coburn was born August 6, 1932 in Fresno, California, and most of his formative years were spent in Sacramento, California. He spent most of his professional and academic career in Southern California, where he gained widespread recognition as an outstanding clinician, scientist, and educator. He was an extraordinary physician, whose numerous achievements dramatically improved the clinical care of patients with kidney disease.⇓

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Dr. Coburn graduated from the UCLA School of Medicine in 1957. After serving as an intern in medicine at the UCLA Medical Center, he spent two years as a medical resident at the University of Washington, Seattle. Jack completed his residency in internal medicine at UCLA Medical Center. He was a research fellow at the Wadsworth VA Medical Center and entered the armed services in 1964, thereafter stationed at Walter Reed Hospital in Washington, DC. He joined the faculty at UCLA in 1966. During the process of developing a strong academic division and expanding opportunities in education and research, he came to be recognized as a consummate mentor of young physicians and as a leading investigator. During his tenure, Jack’s studies had a dramatic effect on the treatment of renal osteodystrophy resulting in a marked reduction in the morbidity associated with this crippling disorder. Indeed, he was the first physician to administer an active vitamin D analogue to a patient treated with maintenance hemodialysis.

Dr. Coburn was a nationally and internationally recognized authority in the field of divalent ion and bone metabolism. With more than 250 publications to his name, his stature in the field was underscored by the numerous invitations he continuously received to lecture at the most prestigious universities throughout the world until his death.

In recognition for his many achievements in the field of nephrology, Jack was the recipient of several awards and honors: the Lederle Award in Human Nutrition of the American Institute of Nutrition (1981); the VA Medical Investigator Award (1982); the Frederic C. Bartter Award for Research from the American Society of Bone and Mineral Research (1986); Special Recognition Award from the National Kidney Foundation of Southern California (1990); the Lifetime Achievement Award for Research in Vitamin D at the 9^th Vitamin D Workshop (1994); the lifetime Achievement Award of the Wadsworth Medical and Surgical Alumni Association (1999); and, mostly recently, the Belding H. Scribner Award of the American Society of Nephrology (November 2003).

During a career that spanned more than four decades, the lives that he enriched through his professional and personal relationships serve as his most enduring legacy. Colleagues readily acknowledge Jack’s skills as a scientific investigator, his effectiveness as both a mentor and a teacher, and his extraordinary facility as a clinician, who was renowned not only among physicians but also among patients for the excellence of the care that he provided and thr compassionate manner in which it was delivered. More than 100 individuals, many of whom are prominent researchers and educators in academic medicine, have benefited from the guidance and training provided by Jack. He will be remembered, not only for his excellence in medicine, but also for his insight, humor, collaborative skills, work ethic, and unselfishness.

Dr. Coburn is survived by his wife, Kathy, his daughters, Elizabeth Callander, Laurel Wright, and Rachel Vandenberg, nine grandchildren, his mother Eula Coburn, and his sister Sally Shroeter.