There are likely many good relationships between doctors and patients at UAB—but few are like the one between pulmonologist Jim Johnson, M.D., and Merritt Pizitz, his patient of 12 years. Pizitz, a prominent Birmingham businessman, made a planned gift to establish an endowed professorship in Johnson’s name in pulmonology. Pizitz said he moved his medical care to UAB more than a dozen years ago and has found the doctors, nurses, clinicians, and other support staff to be highly trained, warm, and helpful. “I have lived in Birmingham for over 80 years, and I think I know Birmingham,” Pizitz says. “When I was young, the lights in the night sky from the blast furnaces west of the city, the horrible 1960s and the city as we see it today. One of the most exciting things during this period was the growth of UAB in Birmingham, located right downtown, with over 20,000 students, 23,000 professional associates, and over 1,500 active physicians. Recently, I decided that I wanted to make a donation to the UAB medical group, but I did not want it to get lost in the [general] funding drive. Therefore, I looked for a way to make a donation that would havesome identity.”

After speaking with Megann Bates Cain, assistant vice president for Development in the UAB Marnix E. Heersink School of Medicine, Pizitz learned that he could direct his gift to a certain department or honor a specific individual.

“I immediately knew what I wanted to do,” he says. “I told her that I wanted to honor Dr. Jim Johnson and name this endowment the James E. Johnson Endowed Professorship in Pulmonary and Critical Care from the funds that will be available upon my death.”

Pizitz said a few years ago he needed a pulmonary specialist and was directed to Johnson.

“Over the years and after many appointments, I learned what a warm, kind, humble, and knowledgeable physician he is,” Pizitz says. “He was only a telephone call away, and Pizitz says, of all of the doctors he’s seen at UAB, Johnson epitomizes medicine of yesteryear: Johnson gave Pizitz his cell phone number and his email address and was instrumental in getting Pizitz follow-up care at the Mayo Clinic for a health issue he faced.

“He is so special,” Pizitz says. “I wanted to honor him for all the things he did for me—for his relationship with me.” For his part, Johnson says he never expected this and tried—unsuccessfully—to convince Pizitz to establish the endowed professorship in Pizitz’s name.

“He wouldn’t hear of it,” Johnson says. “One of his conditions was that it be in my name. It’s a nice thing, a humbling thing—it means that for many years a physician will have my name attached to his or her professorship. I’m humbled and pleased he wanted to do that.”

Johnson, on staff at UAB since 2000, himself is the holder of an endowed professorship, the first Charles and Alice Hohenberg Professor of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine. A graduate of Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Johnson completed his residency in internal medicine and a fellowship in pulmonary and critical care at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas, and served in the U.S. Army until 2000, including completing a deployment to the Middle East. He retired from the military as a full colonel in 2000 and has been at UAB for 23 years, currently serving as clinical director of the Division of Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care Medicine. During his tenure at UAB, Johnson has received numerous awards, including the UAB President’s Award for Excellence in Teaching for the Heersink School of Medicine. Personally, Johnson has been married for 45 years and has five children—all of whom are either in medicine or have served in the military.

Pizitz describes Johnson as warm, kind, and humble and says he wasn’t the only patient Johnson went above and beyond for.

Jim Johnson, M.D

“Jim Johnson is a unique individual and has relationships [like ours] with other people, too,” Pizitz says. “When you have 20 minutes to see a patient, you can only do so much. I almost died about six years ago from a lung issue. I was critical. He was in my room probably two to three times with my daughter. That’s not his job, going to visit patients in their rooms. I had another small event happen, and he called from out of town. He’d already found out about it. He called and talked to me and apologized for not being able to see me. He’s just a special man.”

Johnson returns the respect for his patient, recalling that the pair hit it off from the very beginning.

“He’s one of these guys that’s larger than life,” Johnson says. “When he walks in the room, you know he’s there. He has a big personality and likes to laugh; he always has a joke and a big smile and is glad to see you. He has my phone numbers—my cell number, my office number— but he doesn’t abuse them. If he needs me, he knows how to reach me.”

Johnson says the professorship in his name will help anchor a talented physician to UAB and make the recipient more likely to stay long-term, providing not just salary support but also career enhancement, including taking courses or buying equipment.

“It’s another level of promotion,” he says. “UAB benefits by having that person be better educated and have a salary that is more competitive with other institutions. The benefit is to the individual mainly, but there is a secondary benefit to UAB.”

This gift will make impact for decades, says Mark Dransfield, M.D., director of the Division of Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care Medicine.

“This endowment in honor of Dr. Johnson is a terrific recognition of his service to UAB and his patients,” he says. “Jim is well known across the Heersink School of Medicine and UAB Hospital for his excellence in teaching and in patient care. He always goes the extra mile to ensure patients are receiving the best care, both in terms of quality and his attention. This endowment will help us retain and reinvest in our faculty for decades to come and knowing that it was named in his honor will encourage future holders to emulate his caring and professionalism.”

Having an endowed professorship named in one’s honor is a rare distinction for a physician, and Johnson was so moved by his patient’s gesture that, when he found out about Pizitz’s gift, he wrote him a kind letter—by hand, Pizitz points out—and mailed it to him.

“He said, ‘There are over 1,000 doctors at UAB, and I bet you not 4 percent will ever receive this honor,’” Pizitz says. “I still have the letter on my desk, and I’ve considering framing it for my house. It’s so personal, it almost puts tears in your eyes.”

- By Rachel Burchfield