James Block, MD, former president and CEO of Johns Hopkins Medicine, died Oct. 9, The Baltimore Sun reported. He was 83.
Dr. Block, an expert in palliative care, died at his home of complications from a neurological condition.
Dr. Block graduated from the New York University School of Medicine in 1966 and completed a residency in pediatrics and ambulatory medicine at Rochester, N.Y.-based Strong Memorial Hospital in 1969.
In 1985, Dr. Block was named president and CEO of University Hospitals in Cleveland. Seven years later, he became president and CEO of the Johns Hopkins Hospital and Health System in Baltimore, now known as Johns Hopkins Medicine.
"He had leadership qualities and could build rapport with people very quickly," W. Gill Wylie, former president of Johns Hopkins Medical Management Corp., who worked with Dr. Block, told the Sun. "He was a visionary. He was very good at coming up with ideas and implementing them. He was unique and had the ability to see into the future."
Dr. Block resigned from his leadership role at Johns Hopkins in 1996 amid a restructuring and started his own consulting firm, J.A. Block Health Associates, in 1997. For the past 20 years, he worked as a consultant to help expand the field of palliative care. In 2010, he received the first American Cancer Society Pathfinder in Palliative Care Award, according to his obituary.