Awards
- National Academies - 1969
- American Association for the Advancement of Science
About John Hickam
John Bamber Hickam died on February 9, 1970 at age 55. Hickam was born in the Philippine Islands, August 10, 1914, the son of a native Hoosier, the late Colonel Horace Hickam, a military aviation pioneer and the namesake of Hickam Field in Honolulu. Dr. Hickam graduated from Harvard University in 1936 and Harvard University School of Medicine in 1940. Following training at Brigham Hospital in Boston and Grady Hospital in Atlanta, he served in the U.S. Army. He returned briefly to Emory University in 1946, then moved to Duke University School of Medicine from 1947-1958. In 1958, he moved to Indiana University School of Medicine as chairperson of the Department of Medicine.
Under his direction, the department grew rapidly, both in numbers and in prestige. He brought several young investigators into the department and began the development of new research and training programs, which expanded the teaching capabilities. By 1967, IUSM was among the top ten centers in funding for cardiovascular research and training, with much of it concentrated in the Department of Medicine. As a proponent of new approaches to medical education, Hickam was secretary-treasurer of the American Board of Internal Medicine and a member of the executive committee of the National Board of Medical Examiners. He was a member of the IU committee that developed a new medical curriculum, considered one of the most innovative in the United States. His belief that health care must be improved by strengthening graduate training programs was influential in developing the "Indiana Plan" for medical education. He was the director of the Regenstrief Foundation for Research in Health Care, associated with Indiana University Medical Center and Marion County General Hospital.
Hickam is widely known for his research on pulmonary function in heart and lung disease, and he contributed to the knowledge of retinal circulation through the use of photography. He published approximately 75 articles and wrote several chapters in the Cecil-Loeb Textbook of Medicine. He served on editorial boards of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Annals of Internal Medicine, Circulation, and American Review of Respiratory Disease. He directed the IUSM Heart Research Center and was the principal investigator of a U.S. Air Force contract, which established an IU cardio-pulmonary research laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio.
He was president of the Central Society for Clinical Research, secretary of the Association of American Physicians, past president of the Association of Professors of Medicine, a trustee of the Thomas A. Edison Foundation. He was a member of the Cardiovascular Study Section, the NIH National Advisory Heart Council, the USPHS Surgeon General's Advisory Committee on Smoking and Health, which, after extensive study, wrote the report entitled Smoking and Health, published in 1964 and he was a member of the AMA-ERF Committee for Research on Tobacco and Health. He was a fellow of the American College of Physicians and the American Association for the Advancement of Science; diplomate of the American Board of Internal Medicine; a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Alpha Omega Alpha, American Federation for Clinical Research, American Physiological Society, American Society for Clinical Investigation, American Thoracic Society, American Clinical and Climatological Association, American Medical Association, American College of Cardiology, American College of Clinical Pharmacology and Chemotherapy, and Southern Society for Clinical Research.