I. Jerome Flance

A renowned St. Louis physician, I. Jerome Flance, MD, emeritus professor of clinical medicine, has had a career at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis for 53 years. A physician, educator and pulmonary disease specialist at the medical school, he also always has had an interest in working with disadvantaged people. Flance received an honorary doctor of humanities degree in 2002.

Since retiring from medicine in 1998 at age 87, Flance has been the special associate for community redevelopment at the medical school, representing the Washington University Medical Center Redevelopment Corporation in its efforts to revitalize the Forest Park Southeast community.

Flance earned a bachelor’s degree in 1931 and a medical degree in 1935, both from Washington University. He joined the university’s clinical faculty in 1944 and became director of the university’s Pulmonary Service at the St. Louis Hospital and an attending physician at both Jewish and Barnes hospitals. In 1953, he initiated a hospital-based home-care program at Jewish Hospital, serving as its director for 11 years. During that time, he started the first formal home-care program for tuberculosis in the United States.

Also in 1953, after 11 years of solo practice, he and Michael M. Karl, MD, professor of clinical medicine, established the Maryland Medical Group, where Flance practiced for 43 years. Flance also was medical director of the St. Louis Lung Association, president of the medical staff of Jewish Hospital and a member of the St. Louis Lung Physicians to Combat Air Pollution.

The School of Medicine established the Rosemary and I. Jerome Flance Professorship of Pulmonary Medicine in 1995.