A&S alumni spotlight: Jerome Fleg

A: After graduating from A&S, I completed medical school at UC, followed by two years as a flight surgeon in the Air Force, and then spent the next four years at Washington University in St. Louis studying and training in internal medicine and cardiology.

Right after completing medical training, I joined the National Institute on Aging to conduct research on aging changes in the human cardiovascular system in healthy volunteers from the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging (BLSA). Although I had virtually no training in this nascent area, I spent the next 25 years helping to define normal versus abnormal cardiovascular aging, a relevant topic for all adults, through clinical studies in the BLSA.

In 2002, I relocated to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) to gain experience and expertise in conducting large clinical trials in persons with cardiovascular disease, with a focus on heart failure and coronary artery disease, the two most common cardiovascular causes of death and disability in older adults. I am still working full-time at NHLBI.

A: As a part-time musician, I lead a six-piece jazz band that performs regularly at retirement communities throughout the Baltimore-Washington-Annapolis area. This activity is therapeutic to both the band members and the audiences. I also have volunteered for the past 15 years at a cardiology clinic serving low-income, uninsured patients in the Washington area, with the fringe benefit of improving my modest ability to communicate in Spanish, the native language of approximately half of the patients. 

A: The Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging nominated me for the Commendation Medal that was awarded by the U.S. Public Health Service. Many years later, after transferring to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), I received both the NHLBI and the NIH Director’s Awards, recognizing my involvement in clinical studies of patients affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

A: Alas, my distance from UC prevents me from attending UC events on a regular basis. However, I have created endowed scholarships at A&S, the College of Medicine and CCM in honor of family members who attended these UC colleges.

A: Although I have many fond UC memories, my favorite ones were organizing and leading a student Dixieland band at the annual Metro talent show during my sophomore and junior years. 

Featured image at top of A&S Hall in the fall. Photo/UC Marketing + Brand.