WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Friends of John H. “Jack” Felts III, M.D., professor emeritus of internal medicine - nephrology, have established an endowed chair in internal medicine in his honor at Wake Forest University School of Medicine, said Thomas D. DuBose, Jr., professor and chairman of the Department of Internal Medicine.
DuBose, who announced the donation at Thursday’s internal medicine grand rounds, said Barry I. Freedman, M.D., head of the Section on Nephrology, would be the first John H. Felts III Professor of Internal Medicine.
“We honor the long years of service that Jack Felts gave to this department,” DuBose said. “He was a pioneer in dialysis and brought dialysis to what was then called Bowman Gray far ahead of other medical schools in the South. It was a horrendous task to dialyze a patient in those days.”
Felts’s wife, Kitty Felts, expressed the family’s appreciation of the honor. “Jack loves this medical school,” she said. “For almost 50 years, he has given his loyalty, love and energy to his colleagues. With the creation of this endowment, he will always be connected with Wake Forest University School of Medicine.”
In 1955, Felts joined the faculty as a member of what was then called the Department of Medicine, and remained here until his retirement in May 1993, eventually becoming the school’s first nephrologist.. The dialysis program that he started now has grown to 13 dialysis centers in Forsyth, Stokes, Surry, Iredell, Davidson and Guilford counties.
Felts also served as associate dean of admissions and in a number of academic offices at the medical school. He was editor of the North Carolina Medical Journal from 1974 to1982.
DuBose said that Felts could not attend Thursday’s grand rounds because of illness.
The Felts chair is the school’s 15th endowed chair and the fourth in internal medicine.
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Media Contacts: Robert Conn, rconn@wfubmc.edu, Shannon Koontz, shkoontz@wfubmc.edu, or Karen Richardson, krchrdsn@wfubmc.edu, at 336-716-4587.
About Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center: Wake Forest Baptist is an academic health system comprised of North Carolina Baptist Hospital and Wake Forest University Health Sciences, which operates the university’s School of Medicine. The system comprises 1,282 acute care, psychiatric, rehabilitation and long-term care beds and is consistently ranked as one of “America’s Best Hospitals” by U.S. News & World Report.