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Dr. G. Timothy Johnson
CHICAGO, IL (October 10, 2005) - The following information comes from the
commemorative program distributed by Swedish Covenant Hospital during
the 50th Anniversary Benefit Gala and provides a closer look at the life
of well-known Covenanter Dr. G. Timothy Johnson.
Dr. G. Timothy Johnson, medical editor of ABC-TV and host of Good
Morning America's "On Call with Dr. Tim Johnson" planned to be a
Protestant minister. But two years after graduating from divinity
school, he changed direction and entered medical school - drawn by his
experience as a hospital chaplain.
Johnson's ties with Swedish Covenant Hospital span four decades. During
his college days, Johnson worked at the hospital as an X-ray and
laboratory technician. It was at Swedish Covenant Hospital where he met
Nancy Berglund, who was working as a nurse in the operating rooms,
having graduated from Swedish Covenant Hospital's School of Nursing in
1963. That was the same year that Johnson graduated from North Park
Theological Seminary, before deciding to pursue a career in medicine.
The two married and Johnson attended Albany Medical College in Albany,
New York. While in his junior year, he and his wife spent the summer
doing missionary work in a hospital in the Republic of Indonesia. A Phi
Beta Kappa graduate of Augustana College, Dr. Timothy Johnson graduated
summa cum laude from Albany Medical College and went on to get a
master's degree in public health from Harvard University.
Having achieved distinction as one of the nation's leading medical
communicators of healthcare information, Johnson has provided commentary
on medical problems and answers for viewers of ABC News since 1975. In
addition to Good Morning America, Johnson provides on-air
analysis of medical news for World News Tonight, Nightline and
20/20.
Johnson is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Surgeon
General Medallion, the Howard W. Blakeslee Award, Emmy Awards from the
New England Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and
Sciences, the National Health Information Award, and the Lewis Thomas
Award for Communications, given by the American College of Physicians.
In addition, in a 1995 TV Guide poll of the most-trusted
television news personalities in America, Johnson ranked second behind
Walter Cronkite.
Holding joint positions in medicine at Harvard University and
Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, Johnson is in the mainstream
of the nation's top medical resources. He is the co-editor of the
Harvard Medical School Health Letter Book and the founding editor
of the Harvard Medical School Health Letter. Former U.S. Surgeon
General C. Everett Koop, a friend and colleague of Johnson, said, "When
you educate patients the way Timothy Johnson is doing, you empower them
to take a larger role in their health care. It changes the paradigm of
passive patient and active physician."
Johnson is an author of several books, his most recent, Finding God
in the Questions: A Personal Journey. Of that book, he states, "You
don't have to have answers to everything to still be a person of faith.
You can live according to what you can know or understand and live with
doubt. That's something I've done my whole life."
He and his wife, Nancy Ann, reside in the Boston suburbs. They have two
children. A member of the Evangelical Covenant Church, Johnson serves as
assisting minister of the Community Covenant Church in West Peabody,
Massachusetts. He calls his detour from the ministry to medicine not a
total detour, and says, "I've stayed active in my church and certainly
have tried to make myself available to people with medical problems,
which I've always regarded as a kind of ministry. I think medicine and
ministry at their best really do share a very similar motivation of
service."
In recognition of his compassionate service of educating tens of
millions of people on how to live healthier lives and how to receive
better health care through good, accurate information, Swedish Covenant
Hospital is proud to present its 2005 Spirit of Compassion Award to Dr.
G. Timothy Johnson. We congratulate him on his outstanding career, which
has impacted people throughout the world. And we thank him for honoring
Swedish Covenant Hospital by accepting the award we bestow upon him this
evening.
Copyright © 2008 The Evangelical Covenant Church. |
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