Founding Chairman, UT Department of Surgery
September 8, 1926 - March 17, 2010
We are deeply saddened to announce that J. Bradley Aust, MD, PhD, the Dale
H. Dorn Distinguished Professor of Surgery, died in the early morning of March
17, 2010. As founding chairman of the Department of Surgery of the University of
Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, Dr. Aust was critical to the growth
and success of the Health Science Center, the University Health System and the
South Texas Veterans Health Care System.
Dr. Aust's graduation from the University of Buffalo Medical School in 1949
marked the beginning of a remarkable academic and surgical career. While in his
surgical residency at the University of Minnesota Medical School in Minneapolis,
his residency training was interrupted by the Korean War in 1952. Returning to
the University of Minnesota Medical School in 1954, Dr. Aust continued his
surgical residency, completing the program in 1957. He also earned a master
degree in physiology in 1957 followed by a doctorate in surgery in 1958 from the
University of Minnesota Medical School. In 1958, he was certified in Surgery and
joined the faculty of the University of Minnesota as a scholar of the American
Cancer Society. During Dr. Aust's years in Minnesota, he quickly became a
recognized leader in American surgery. His pioneering work involved the areas of
total blood volume determination, coronary artery revascularization, measurement
of tissue blood flow, organ transplantation and surgical oncology.
In 1965, Dr. Aust was contacted by Dean Carter Pannill from San Antonio. Dean
Pannill showed Dr. Aust a field with two silos on the outskirts of the city,
where he was invited to head a new department of surgery. "The offer to help
start a new medical school and develop the department of surgery was too good an
opportunity to pass up," Dr. Aust later recounted.
He was a highly skilled surgeon, an excellent teacher, a prolific researcher and
an effective administrator. For thirty years, Dr. Aust principally devoted his
considerable talents and energies to creating well-trained, competent surgeons.
During his tenure as the chairman of surgery, he trained more than 150 surgeons.
As a testament to Dr. Aust's educational leadership, these surgeons have changed
the surgical landscape of San Antonio, South Texas and the world.
While building a highly productive department, Dr. Aust fostered an atmosphere
of a true surgical family. Many of the founding faculty members remain on the
staff to this day and most graduates of the surgery residency program are active
members of the J. Bradley Aust Surgical Society. Dr. Aust retired in 1996 but
maintained an active clinical and educational presence for the next fifteen
years. During that time, the Aust family established the J. B. Aust, M.D., Ph.D.
Endowed Chair in Surgery at UT Health Science Center.
Dr. Aust is survived by Constance, his wife of sixty years, their six
children, twelve grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
We conclude this announcement with Dr. Aust's own words in his presidential
address to the Southern Surgical Association in 2000:
"It has been my good fortune to have had many colleagues who have enriched my
academic career. I must now bring this odyssey to a close. It has been a
marvelous 50 years, and for me a golden age of surgery...I am deeply indebted to
all my teammates, both mentors and colleagues, who shared this odyssey with me -
my journey as an academic surgeon."
Memorial service arrangements are pending and additional information will be
shared as it becomes available.
Please click here to read Dr. Aust's Obituary
Memorial 'Celebration of Life' services were held 11:00 a.m. Wednesday, March 24
at the Porter Loring Chapel, 1101 McCullough in downtown San Antonio.
In lieu of flowers memorials may be made to Hospice Christus Santa Rosa, 4241
Woodcock Drive, Suite A-100, San Antonio, Texas 78228; JB Aust Surgical Society c/o
John Myers @ UTHSC 7703 Floyd Curl Dr., San Antonio, Texas 78229; or Reaching
Maximum Independence (RMI), 6334 Montgomery, San Antonio, Texas 78259.
If you'd like to submit your thoughts and remembrances of Dr. Aust, please email to John Myers, MD. We'll post these on the page linked below:
In remembrance of J. Bradley Aust
Please click here for the Aust Society welcome page.
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