Heritage Snapshot Part 215: Varner J. Johns Jr. MD

LOMA LINDA >> Varner J. Johns, Jr., MD, born in Denver, Colorado, January 27, 1921, was the son of a minister and author. Although he also earned a JD degree, Varner J. Johns Sr. never practiced law. He pastored all over the mid-west and as far away as Rio de Janero. He eventually became president of the Minnesota Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, and in 1936, joined the religion faculty of the Loma Linda College of Medical Evangelists (CME). The family lived on Starr Street in Loma Linda during that time, and the teenaged Varner Jr. got a job in the Department of Anatomy. As a child, Varner Jr. had rheumatic fever—twice—between the ages of 9 and 14. He became so sick the second time; he was told he wouldn’t live very long. While he was in the hospital, he became very interested in physicians and what they did. Because he so respected the doctors who took care of him, he decided to become a physician. His doctor said he shouldn’t spend another winter in the cold climate of Minnesota, where the family lived, so Varner was sent to live at his aunt’s home in Burbank, California. His aunt’s husband was also a physician. He lived with their family for about a year before his father joined the faculty of the School of Medicine in Loma Linda. Varner J. Johns Jr, whose maternal grandfather was John Harvey Morrison, president of the Iowa Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, graduated from Loma Linda Academy in 1939. His uncle Harvey Arch Morrison, was president of Union College in Lincoln, Nebraska. Varner’s mother, a very saintly woman who memorized whole books of the Bible, had a huge impact on him. He then attended La Sierra College from 1939 to 1941, and received his BS degree when he graduated from medical school in 1944. Because graduates didn’t get their MD degrees at that time until after they had experienced a year of internship, Varner is listed as a 1945 graduate of CME. He completed a two-year internship at the White Memorial Hospital in Los Angeles as well as a two-year pathology residency at the Loma Linda Sanitarium and Hospital. While he was in medical school, Varner’s father introduced him to Dorothy Hippach, the soloist for a week of prayer he was conducting at La sierra College. (The soloist’s father, Roscoe Hippach, MD, was also a CME alumnus.) Varner and Dorothy were married in Los Angeles, on December 7, 1944. They had two daughters and a son. In 1948, Dr. Johns joined CME’s Internal Medicine staff in Los Angeles and became known for his thoughtful manner and careful but deliberate speech. As a medical student, he had enlisted in the Army, even though he was initially rejected because of his heart block. He was given a deferment so that he could finish medical school. In 1954, during the Korean War, the Army called him. He could have been excused, but Dr. Johns insisted on serving his country. He felt indebted to the U.S. Army because it had paid for his tuition during his last two years of medical school. He was adamant, saying, “I owe it.” Because of his work with the medical school, the Army sent him to Washington, D.C., where he served as chief of professional training for the Surgeon General of the United States from 1954 to 1956. He rose to the rank of Major during his time. After leaving the Army, he continued as a consultant to the Office of the Surgeon General for 11 more years. He was certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine in 1951. Also in 1951, Dr. Johns became senior attending and physician-in-chief at the 3,000-bed Los Angeles County General Hospital, where in addition to CME’s students, he also taught student physicians from the University of Southern California. In 1954, Dr. Johns became president of the CME School of Medicine Alumni Association. In the early 1960s, Dr. Johns spent a year in London at the Institute of Cardiology. He found the British physicians were very much more into physical diagnosis. There he learned how to successfully diagnose a patient’s condition before diagnostic tests were conducted. The tests would then confirm what had been diagnosed. These experiences honed his skills. In 1962, he was elected fellow of the American College of Cardiology. During his time with the medical school, Dr. Johns held many positions. He became professor of Medicine, associate dean of the School of Medicine, associate dean for Continuing Medical Education, and chair of the Department of Medicine—twice. In 1974, he became president of the San Bernardino County Medical Society and in 1979, president of the Los Angeles Academy of Medicine. He received countless awards from various organizations, as well as recognition as an outstanding teacher and Loma Linda University’s Alumnus of the Year award in 1987. Dr. Johns was intimately involved in the consolidation of the School of Medicine in Loma Linda, beginning in 1962. Many of his colleagues were against the move, and absolutely refused to participate because they thought the endeavor would fail. But he believed it would work. Varner’s illness and heart damage as a child was one of the reasons he became a cardiologist. In 1966, he was certified by the subspecialty Board of Cardiovascular Disease. Rheumatic fever had a huge impact on his life. He always tried to pack as much as he could into every single day, because he didn’t think he was going to live past 40. He continued to live his whole life that way, even though he far exceeded everybody’s expectations and lived to the age of 82. Dr. Johns officially retired from the School of Medicine in 1986, but then worked with Audio Digest, which was started by Jerry L. Pettis, and owned by the California Medical Association. At the time the organization was in somewhat disarray. While he was there, he put them on a firm financial footing. Varner was always a good listener, whether it was one of his children, a seat-mate on an airplane, or a patient. No matter who he was talking to, he was always very present. He believed that taking the time to listen to a patent was an essential part of treating them. He said that the practice of medicine was like being a detective. He especially liked difficult cases. Many times student physicians would try to trick him, but his careful attention to every detail always foiled their attempts. He liked people and especially enjoyed teaching student physicians. He said, “Medical students are inspiring because they are unprejudiced by past knowledge and their curiosity is easily whetted. Frequently, they ask challenging questions that more sophisticated or more knowledgeable graduates consider too foolish to ask.” Dr. Johns was stimulated by students’ professional growth. “In fact, teaching during this period often seems more rewarding than that done at any other time, because it is during the early phases of the clinical work that the student acquires the seemingly greatest amount of information relating to patient care,” he said.