In Memoriam: Pulmonologist and Former Alumnus, Faculty John Mangos, MD

John Mangos
Fr. John Mangos, MD

Fr. John A. Mangos, MD, a pediatric pulmonologist; former University of Wisconsin Department of Pediatrics resident, fellow and faculty member; and former chairman and professor emeritus of pediatrics at University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio; died on December 25, 2016.

Dr. Mangos completed his medical training in 1956 at the Medical School of the Aristotelian University of Thessalonika in Greece. Following four years of service as a physician in the Greek Army, he completed a pediatric residency at the UW Department of Pediatrics, followed by fellowships there and at the Institute of Physiology at Free Berlin University.

He served as a faculty pediatric pulmonologist at the UW Department of Pediatrics and chief of pediatric pulmonology at the University of Florida, and was recruited as professor and chairman of pediatrics at The University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio in 1982. He served as chairman there for 15 years and continued to serve on the pediatric faculty as chief of pediatric pulmonology, vice chairman for academic affairs and acting chairman. He held the Miss Eloise Alexander Distinguished Chair of Pediatric Pulmonology from 1997 until his retirement in 2012.

Dr. Mangos was a distinguished scientist contributing to the understanding of the basic biology of cystic fibrosis. He also led the development of a robust faculty development program. A Greek Orthodox priest, he served at St. Sophia Greek Orthodox Church in San Antonio. His mission, as he proudly stated, was “taking care of people from cradle to grave.” He was recognized by students at the UT School of Medicine in San Antonio with the Arnold P. Gold Foundation’s 2003 Leonard Tow Humanism in Medicine Award for Faculty. He will be remembered as “a master clinician and an eternal optimist.”