Michael Marieb Edward Johns

Johns, a dean of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, was born in Detroit. He received his bachelor’s degree from Wayne State University in 1964 and his M.D. from the University of Michigan Medical School in 1969. Johns completed an internship in internal medicine and residency in otolaryngology at the University of Michigan and a residency in general surgery at St. Joseph’s Mercy Hospital in Ann Arbor. He then served as a major in the U.S. Army Medical Corps and chief of the otolaryngology service at Walter Reed Army Medical Center from 1975 to 1977.

In 1977, Johns joined the faculty of the University of Virginia School of Medicine as assistant professor of otolaryngology. He was promoted to full professor in 1982. He was one of the first physicians in the United States to implant an artificial voice box in a patient following surgery for cancer of the larynx.

In 1984, Johns was recruited to Johns Hopkins to become professor and chair of otolaryngology-head and neck surgery, a department he built into one of the country’s largest and most prestigious. Two years later, he assumed additional responsibility as associate dean for clinical practice. In this position, he began the reorganization of the faculty practice plan and the planning and development of the Johns Hopkins Outpatient Center. In 1990, Johns became vice president for medicine and dean of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Under his leadership, Johns Hopkins moved into first place among all medical schools in sponsored research, with more than $250 million awarded in the 1994 to 1995 fiscal year. Also during his tenure the school revamped its curriculum to better meet the challenges of a new era in health care, and developed a technology transfer program that was considered a model in the country.

In 1996, Johns left Johns Hopkins to become executive vice president for health affairs of the Robert W. Woodruff Health Sciences Center at Emory University. He also became chairman of the board and chief executive officer of the Emory University System of Health Care. During his tenure, Johns led a comprehensive strategy that positioned the Woodruff Health Sciences Center as one of the nation’s pre-eminent academic health centers in education, research, and patient care. Johns also led one of the most extensive facilities improvement plans in the Woodruff Health Sciences Center’s history. In 2007, Johns became the university’s fifth chancellor, a position he held until 2012.

In 2014, he was appointed interim executive vice president for medical affairs at the University of Michigan and interim chief executive officer of the University of Michigan Health System.

Johns was elected to the Institute of Medicine in 1993, and served on several committees and as vice chair of the Institute of Medicine council. He is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Johns has served on the editorial board of the Journal of the American Medical Association and as a member of the Advisory Council to the Congressional Taskforce on Biomedical Research and Innovation. He was appointed by the U.S. Secretary of Defense as a member of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences Board of Regents in 2008.

In 2010, Johns received an honorary degree from Johns Hopkins. In 2015, he received the Castle Connolly National Physician of the Year Award for Lifetime Achievement. The award recognizes both physicians and leaders in health care whose dedication, talents, and skills have improved the lives of thousands of people throughout the world.

Johns has contributed professionally to many organizations and policy groups in health care, including the Institute of Medicine, the Association of American Medical Colleges, the Commonwealth Fund Task Force on Academic Health Centers, and the Association of Academic Health Centers. He has worked with state and federal policy makers on topics ranging from the future of health professions education to national health system reform. Johns has published more than 150 articles regarding otolaryngology.