Dr. Evelyn Hess (1925-2015) - Working With and For the Patient Save

RheumNow sadly notes that rheumatology icon and educator Dr. Evelyn Hess passed away on December 25, 2015.  She leaves behind a legacy career and a legion of clinicians, teachers, researchers and leaders whom she taught and inspired.

Dr. Hess was Professor Emerita of Internal Medicine at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine and founder of its Division of Immunology, Allergy and Rheumatology. Her distinguished academic and research career was devoted to education and rheumatology, with a career interest in lupus. 

Dr. Hess received her medical degree from University College in Dublin. She completed rheumatology fellowships at the Royal Free Hospital and Medical School and the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School under Dr. Morris Ziff. In 1964, she went to the University of Cincinnati and became the founding Director of the Division of Immunology.

Dr. Hess was a woman of candor, a person of character and a clinician's clinician. She was a nationally recognized leader amongst her peers and other division chairs. She published more than 152 scientific papers, 73 book chapters  and 205 abstracts, ran a division for more than 30 years and mentored more than 70 rheumatology fellows.  In addition to being a mentor to many, she was a role model for women going into rheumatology. She was described by her fellows as proactive, warm, and supportive.  She was well-known for her devotion to teaching and clinical skills. In a 2011 profile written in The Rheumatologist, she remarked, "It’s good to be able to survive fellows,” and joked that “none of them went to jail!” She advocates strongly for clinician–researchers and was instrumental in shaping the careers of many current leaders in rheumatology.

Dr. Hess was one of the founders and leaders of the American Rheumatism Medical Information System (ARAMIS), the first of its kind in the 1980's - a computerized database of patients with rheumatic diseases.  

Amongst her many honors she received the Daniel Drake Medal from the College of Medicine in 2001, the ACR Distinguished Clinical Scholar Award in 1996 and was a Master of the ACR.  She was the first recipient of the Ohio Association of Rheumatology's Lifetime Achievement Award in 2013. She was instrumental in passing the Ohio Arthritis Act, which funded patient education and supported fellowship training statewide. Additionally, she founded and chaired the Greater Cincinnati AIDS Task Force. In 1998, she was given the Cincinnati Enquirer's Woman of the Year Award in recognition of her outstanding professional accomplishments and dedicated service to the community.

The Evelyn V. Hess Chair for Lupus Research was established at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine in 2009 in Dr. Hess' honor. In 2007, the Ohio Chapter of the American College of Physicians began awarding the Evelyn V. Hess Master Teacher Award to physician teachers. The Lupus Foundation of America in 2005 established the annual Evelyn V. Hess MD Research Award to honor researchers whose life's work has advanced understanding of causes and treatment of lupus.  Past recipients of the LFA Evelyn V. Hess MD Research Award include Drs. Jane Salmon, George Tsokos, Murray Urowitz, Ellen Ginzler, Betty Diamond and Bevra Hahn. 

She is survived by her husband, Dr. Michael Howett and her nephew, Richard Howett.