A Special Bond Leads to a Professorship

As a teenage patient in Johns Hopkins Hospital’s Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, Jackie Julio was referred to pediatrician Catherine “Cathy” DeAngelis, someone she knew nothing about. Little could she imagine how dramatically that would change.

At the time, Julio, who has a rare neuromuscular disorder called Kugelberg Welander syndrome, had spent considerable time in and out of the hospital. Reviewing her medical records, DeAngelis noted that many of Julio’s hospitalizations resulted from her becoming anxious and having difficulty breathing.

“I told her, I don’t care what time of day or night it is: When you start to feel like this, call me and I will talk to you,” DeAngelis recalls. So began what would become a decades-long friendship.

“When I would go to appointments at Johns Hopkins, you would hear [Cathy] coming down the hallway laughing, talking with people and smiling — she’s always like that,” Julio says. “I could talk to her about anything — boy stuff, worries or stressors, and she always had the time. I never felt rushed. If I had a cold, we would call her, and she would call me right back. She’s amazing.”

DeAngelis would go on to serve as vice dean for academic affairs and faculty at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and become editor-in-chief of the Journal of the American Medical Association — the first woman to fill that role. Today, she is University Distinguished Service Professor Emerita, professor of pediatrics emerita at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and professor of health policy and management at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

In spite of these additional demands on her time, DeAngelis has remained concerned about Jackie Julio, who — having only minimal movement in her hands — attended college and law school, moved to California to pursue acting and then settled in Florida. Through it all, she maintained close contact with DeAngelis, who continues to offer medical advice and support.

In gratitude, Julio’s family recently established the Catherine DeAngelis, M.D., and Jackie Julio Endowed Professorship.

“To have a professorship named for Jackie and me is something very special, because Jackie’s very special,” DeAngelis says. “You know the word ‘joy’? That best describes how I feel about this honor: Great joy on many levels.”

The inaugural recipient of this professorship is Barry Solomon, professor of pediatrics and chief of the Division of General Pediatrics.

“I’m really honored to be the first recipient,” says Solomon, who is also assistant dean for medical student affairs at Johns Hopkins. “I have spent much of my academic career thinking about how we can use primary care to help patients and families with their social and behavioral health needs.”

As former medical director of the Harriet Lane Clinic, Solomon worked with Johns Hopkins colleagues, private foundations and community organizations to incorporate services such as on-site mental health care, parenting groups and safety resources. For nearly 15 years, a resource desk — now called Hopkins Community Connection and staffed primarily by Johns Hopkins undergraduates at Harriet Lane and two Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center clinics — continues to screen families for social needs, and connect them to local resources.

“It’s very exciting to receive this professorship because not only can this help us move this work further; it can also help support trainees and junior faculty interested in reducing health disparities and promoting equity through innovations in primary care,” says Solomon. He also notes that he’s found himself inspired listening to DeAngelis share her life story in her audiobook, Onward, a reading of her memoir, Pursuing Equity in Medicine: One Woman’s Journey. Through the professorship, says Julio, “I feel like our bond will go on. It’s been a very special, loving relationship that started as doctor-patient and evolved into family.”