Cardiac Surgery Pioneer John Flege Jr., MD, Dies at 88

John Flege Jr., MD, emeritus professor of surgery at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, died Tuesday, March 20. He was 88 years old. 

Flege was one of the founders of the University of Cincinnati heart transplant program in 1985. He also founded the cardiac surgery programs at Christ Hospital in 1969 and St. Elizabeth Hospital in 1983, and supported the Jewish Hospital program. 

"Dr. Flege came to Cincinnati at a time when he was one of the earliest surgeons in North America to specialize in the discipline of modern cardiac surgery and at the same time our community was in need of heart surgeons of the highest technical skill and knowledge as well as impeccable character and integrity. Dr. Flege was such a surgeon,” said Michael Edwards, MD, professor and chair of the UC Department of Surgery. "He was somewhat of a ‘lone wolf’ going into uncharted territory and attempting to generalize this new therapy while under extreme pressure and with a great sense of duty to obtain excellent outcomes." 

"His track record in establishing this new surgery for coronary artery disease and training the next generation of heart surgeons was unsurpassed by anyone in the country. Dr. Flege led the heart programs in Cincinnati from their infancy to their current status as among the best in the country,” Edwards added.

A native of Williamstown, Kentucky, Flege received his undergraduate education at the University of Kentucky. He was a 1954 graduate of the UC College of Medicine and, at the age of 63, earned his Juris Doctorate from the UC College of Law in 1992. He was admitted to the bar in 1993.

Flege completed his internship at Cincinnati General Hospital and began a surgical residency at Ohio State University Hospital until it was interrupted by two years in the U.S Air Force (1956-1958). He completed his surgical residency at Cincinnati General Hospital and also did two years of cardio-thoracic and open-heart surgery training at Hammersmith Hospital in London. Following four years on the faculty at the University of Iowa, Dr. Flege returned to Cincinnati to practice. He was appointed to the College of Medicine faculty in 1982 as professor and also served as director of the division of thoracic and cardiovascular surgery at the University of Cincinnati Hospital (now the UC Medical Center) until 1987. He was named an emeritus professor in 2015.

To enhance the leadership of the division of cardiothoracic surgery at UC, Dr. Flege in 2001 endowed the John B. Flege Jr., MD, Chair in Cardiothoracic Surgery, which is now held by Sandra Starnes, MD, who also is professor of surgery and  chief of the Section of Cardiothoracic Surgery.

Flege was the recipient of numerous awards, including the first Distinguished Surgeon Award from the Cincinnati Surgical Society in 2004 and the 2006 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Cincinnati Business Courier. 

Flege is survived by his wife, Allison, daughters Hartley Flege and Elizabeth Burns and sons John Flege and William Flege. Services will be private. A celebration of Flege’s life will be scheduled at a later date. Donations in his memory can be made to the John B. Flege Jr., MD, Chair in Cardiothoracic Surgery, University of Cincinnati Foundation, PO Box 19970, Cincinnati, OH 45219 or online at www.foundation.uc.edu.