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In Memoriam |
Dr James J. McCort, a leader of American radiology, died on June 12, 2006.
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From 1947 to 1952, Dr McCort was an instructor in radiology at the Harvard Medical School (Boston, Mass), as well as a radiologist at the Massachusetts General Hospital. In 1952, he became director of the Department of Radiology at the Santa Clara Valley Medical Center in San Jose, Calif. In 1964, he was appointed clinical professor of radiology at the Stanford University Medical School in Palo Alto, Calif.
His honors and leadership positions in radiology include founding member of the American Society of Emergency Radiology, fellowship in the American College of Radiology, guest examiner for the American Board of Radiology, president of the California Radiologic Society (1966–1967), delegate of the California Medical Association to the American Medical Association (1964–1987), alternate counselor of the American College of Radiology (1966–1968), president of the South Bay Radiologic Society (1977–1978), president of the Medical Staff at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center (1982–1984), member of the Board of Appeals for the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (1986–1988), and member of the Residency Review Committee for Radiology (1980–1986). In 1987, he was appointed to the National Institutes of Health Consensus Development Panel on Magnetic Resonance Imaging.
Dr McCort's special contributions to the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) include serving as chairman of the Constitution and Bylaws Committees (1986–1990), chairman of the Board of Censors (1990–1991), member of the Board of Directors and, in 1986, president of the RSNA. From 1974, he was on the editorial board and a consultant to the editor of Radiology. In 1992, the RSNA awarded him its highest honor, the RSNA Gold Medal, for his many contributions to radiology and the RSNA.
Dr McCort devoted considerable effort to many other local and international medical pursuits. He was president of the Santa Clara Branch of the American Cancer Society (1958–1959), vice president of the American Heart Association of Santa Clara County (1959–1960), and chairman of the Health and Welfare Commission of Santa Clara County (1978–1979). In 1963 and in 1964, he volunteered as a radiologist on the medical ship Hope stationed in South America.
Dr McCort had a keen interest in abdominal imaging, with a special expertise in the imaging of trauma, as seen in his extensive bibliography. He was the author of numerous articles on acute abdominal diseases and coined several well-known signs in abdominal imaging, such as the "dog-ear sign" of free pelvic fluid. He described Smith-McCort dysplasia: a rare autosomal recessive osteochondrodysplasia. In 1966, he published his first book Radiographic Examination in Blunt Abdominal Trauma (Saunders). In 1981, he coedited the textbook Abdominal Radiology (Williams & Wilkins) and in 1990 coauthored the textbook Trauma Radiology (Churchill Livingstone).
His lectureships include the Garland Memorial Lecture (1977) and the Allan Klein Memorial Lecture (1990). He was a visiting professor at the University of California-San Francisco, Wayne State University (Detroit, Mich), the University of Maryland, and the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor).
Besides his family and medicine, Dr McCort had many interests. He was a most accomplished tennis player, a skilled wood worker, an avid reader, and a most devoted friend. He had a distinguished life as a husband, a father, and a physician, and all of us who trained with him or were trained by him will remember him as a consummate teacher. After retiring, he taught the chest and trauma section of the radiology elective to the Stanford University medical students. With the help of his children and grandchildren, he taught himself PowerPoint in order to deliver his much anticipated and highly original seminars. He even scheduled his therapy on his lecture dates in order not to miss any of his assigned sessions. At the end, despite his failing health, he called me every week to make sure that the students were properly taught in his beloved specialty. His contributions to radiology and his dedication to education and to helping others are amongst his most enduring legacies.
He is survived by four children, John J. McCort, Thomas M. McCort, Mary Catherine McCort, and David M. McCort; and four grandchildren. His wife, Mary Jane, preceded him in death in 2004.
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