John Henry Mulholland (Jack) was born in Charlottesville, Virginia, on May 24, 1932, and died in Fort Myers, Florida, on December 11, 2011. While he lived, Jack was a teacher, guide, friend, and inspiration to many students at all levels. He was considered the consummate gentleman and a superb compassionate clinician by medical house staff and colleagues at Johns Hopkins and Union Memorial Hospital (a community hospital in Baltimore).
Jack was the son of Henry Bearden Mulholland, MD, MACP, Professor of Medicine at the University of Virginia, and Elizabeth Brown Mulholland, and he was a graduate of Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter, New Hampshire. He began his college career at the University of Virginia; attended the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland; and later returned to the University of Virginia, where he was a member of Phi Kappa Sigma fraternity and graduated in 1954. He competed on the tennis and swimming teams at Exeter, and was active on the squash and tennis teams at the Naval Academy and the University of Virginia. Jack's medical school training began at Duke and he finished at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. He was AOA at Hopkins and upon graduation in 1959 he interned on the Osler Medical service. My first contact with Jack was during my senior year as a Hopkins medical student. I remember well his friendship with students and other house staff and his enthusiasm for medicine. I also remember several of his intern buddies including Tabb Moore and Tony Werner. In 1962, he served in the US Public Health service at the National Institute of Health in Bethesda, where he worked for 2 years in Infectious Diseases with Vernon Knight.
After finishing his medical residency at Hopkins, he was asked by Mac Harvey to become his chief resident (a unique position that few house staff attained) and thus finished his medicine training in that capacity at Johns Hopkins. As was the usual case with most of Mac Harvey's chief residents, Jack was asked to remain on the Hopkins faculty. As a faculty person he served as Assistant Professor of Medicine and became Assistant Dean for Student Affairs.
After a few years, he left Hopkins to take on the position as Assistant Director of the Department of Medicine at Union Memorial Hospital in Baltimore, which at the time was under the direction of John Eager Howard. He became Chief of Medicine at Union Memorial Hospital in 1972. A close friend, Allan Jensen, MD, an ophthalmologist at UMH, reports that while Jack was at Hopkins as faculty, Jensen was a medical student. Jack persuaded him to do a medical internship at UMH prior to an ophthalmology residency at Wilmer Eye Institute. Jensen eventually became a colleague and remembers Jack as a superb clinician, fine teacher, and real gentleman. Jack remained as Chief of Medicine for the next 20 years pursuing his passion for teaching medicine. As Chief of Medicine, he initiated new programs and modernized many others as well as overseeing the training of hundreds of residents and interns. He retired from his position at Union Memorial in June of 1992 and went on to work for Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Maryland, and then Doctor's Health Organization. During this time he also played an important role on the Board for Health Care for the Homeless of Baltimore, helping not only to care for the homeless, but also to create an annual event celebrating the outreach of this organization.
Jack and his wife Parksie were elected members of the Clinical and Climatological Association in 1982. They always enjoyed the annual sessions of the ACCA and meeting with numerous friends in the Association from all over our country. In his later years Jack was known for being especially gracious to new members.
Jack was a fellow of the American College of Physicians and served as ACP Governor for the State of Maryland for 2 years. He was the first recipient of the C. Lockard Conley Award in 1992 for significant contributions to resident education and research.
In 2000, the American College of Physicians honored Jack by awarding him the title of Master of the American College of Physicians (MACP) in recognition of his medical excellence and distinguished contributions to internal Medicine.
In 2007, Jack and his wife Anne Parker Carroll (known as Parksie) moved to Charlottesville, Virginia, where he attended numerous tennis matches in support of the University's tennis team. Jack's love of tennis persisted over his lifetime but as many of us have done (as we age), he and Parksie switched from tennis and became avid golfers.
Jack is survived by his wife, three children, and seven grandchildren.