John "Jack" Harland Bryant (born in Arizona

Arizona

Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...

 in 1925 ) is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 physician

Physician

A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...

.

Early life and education

He attended 32 schools before entering high school. During World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

  he served as a pilot

Aviator

An aviator is a person who flies an aircraft. The first recorded use of the term was in 1887, as a variation of 'aviation', from the Latin avis , coined in 1863 by G. de la Landelle in Aviation Ou Navigation Aérienne...

 in the Navy. Following the war he pursued a pre-med program of study at the University of Arizona

University of Arizona

The University of Arizona is a land-grant and space-grant public institution of higher education and research located in Tucson, Arizona, United States. The University of Arizona was the first university in the state of Arizona, founded in 1885...

, earning a B.A.

Bachelor of Arts

A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...

 degree in 1949 before enrolling at the College of Physicians & Surgeons at Columbia University

Columbia University

Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...

, from where he got his MD

Doctor of Medicine

Doctor of Medicine is a doctoral degree for physicians. The degree is granted by medical schools...

 degree in 1953.

Career

He completed an internship and residency in medicine at Presbyterian Hospital in New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

 and decided on an academic career. His first job was a postgraduate research position at the National Institutes of Health

National Institutes of Health

The National Institutes of Health are an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services and are the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and health-related research. Its science and engineering counterpart is the National Science Foundation...

. Following a fellowship in biochemistry

Biochemistry

Biochemistry, sometimes called biological chemistry, is the study of chemical processes in living organisms, including, but not limited to, living matter. Biochemistry governs all living organisms and living processes...

 at the National Institute of Arthritis and Metabolic Diseases and a special research fellowship in biochemistry at the Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry in Munich

Munich

Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...

, Dr. Bryant took a fellowship in hematology

Hematology

Hematology, also spelled haematology , is the branch of biology physiology, internal medicine, pathology, clinical laboratory work, and pediatrics that is concerned with the study of blood, the blood-forming organs, and blood diseases...

 at Washington University in St. Louis

Washington University in St. Louis

Washington University in St. Louis is a private research university located in suburban St. Louis, Missouri. Founded in 1853, and named for George Washington, the university has students and faculty from all fifty U.S. states and more than 110 nations...

.

In 1960, he joined the medical faculty of the University of Vermont

University of Vermont

The University of Vermont comprises seven undergraduate schools, an honors college, a graduate college, and a college of medicine. The Honors College does not offer its own degrees; students in the Honors College concurrently enroll in one of the university's seven undergraduate colleges or...

 and served as director of the clinical research program and later as assistant dean in charge of undergraduate education.

His life changed when he was invited to help the Rockefeller Foundation

Rockefeller Foundation

The Rockefeller Foundation is a prominent philanthropic organization and private foundation based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The preeminent institution established by the six-generation Rockefeller family, it was founded by John D. Rockefeller , along with his son John D. Rockefeller, Jr...

 with a study of health in the developing world.
In 1969 Cornell University Press

Cornell University Press

The Cornell University Press, established in 1869 but inactive from 1884 to 1930, was the first university publishing enterprise in the United States.A division of Cornell University, it is housed in Sage House, the former residence of Henry William Sage....

 issued “Health & the Developing World”.

Dr. Bryant’s landmark assessment of the problems and vast inequities in health care delivery in the world’s less economically favored nations. The book’s systematic approach, fair assessment, and stark conclusions stunned many of its readers and helped inspire an entire generation of students in public and international health.

Following the completion of his study, the Rockefeller Foundation arranged for him to write up the results in Bangkok

Bangkok

Bangkok is the capital and largest urban area city in Thailand. It is known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon or simply Krung Thep , meaning "city of angels." The full name of Bangkok is Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahintharayutthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom...

, Thailand

Thailand

Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...

, where he was appointed professor of medicine at the Ramathibodi Hospital Faculty of Medicine and where he simultaneously served as a consultant on medical education to the government of Thailand.

In Thailand Dr. Bryant shifted his focus from clinical medicine to the business of teaching health to people at the community level and reaching populations that weren’t served. He helped establish a program in community medicine, in the process helping Thailand transform its medical education programs.

Meanwhile, “Health & the Developing World” brought him to the attention of the Columbia University

Columbia University

Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...

 administration. In 1971, he was named Joseph DeLamar Professor of Public Health, director of the School of Public Health, and Associate Dean of the Faculty of Medicine (Public Health). During his tenure at the helm, with Rockefeller and Carnegie Foundation

Carnegie Corporation of New York

Carnegie Corporation of New York, which was established by Andrew Carnegie in 1911 "to promote the advancement and diffusion of knowledge and understanding," is one of the oldest, largest and most influential of American foundations...

 support, Dr. Bryant created the Center for Community Health Development to help foster a more fluid and effective interaction among the medical school, Presbyterian Hospital, the community, and smaller hospitals and health care centers in the community. With the goal of breaking through institutional barriers to reach out to the community, he developed interdisciplinary programs with Columbia’s business and social work schools.

In 1978, Dr. Julius Richmond, U.S. Surgeon General under President Jimmy Carter

Jimmy Carter

James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...

, invited him to expand the activities of the Office of International Health and increase its effectiveness in linking the United States with international health activities.

As director of the office and deputy assistant secretary for international health in the Department of Health and Human Services from 1978 to 1983, Dr. Bryant represented the U.S. government on the executive board of the World Health Organization

World Health Organization

The World Health Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations that acts as a coordinating authority on international public health. Established on 7 April 1948, with headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, the agency inherited the mandate and resources of its predecessor, the Health...

 (WHO) and participated in a number of joint US-WHO activities, including the development of the WHO Code on Infant Formulas.

In 1978 Dr. Bryant served as a member of the U.S. delegation to the International Conference on Primary Health Care in Alma Ata, Kazakstan, then a part of the USSR. The first international gathering to recognize the need to reach out beyond existing hospital structures, Alma Ata affirmed that “no one would be left out.” Its very name became a catchword for the fundamental doctrine of “health for all.”

In 1985, his input was sought in the creation of Aga Khan University

Aga Khan University

The Aga Khan University is a coeducational research university spread over three continents. It was granted its charter in 1983 as Pakistan's first private, autonomous university. AKU was founded by His Highness the Aga Khan, and is part of the Aga Khan Development Network...

 in Karachi

Karachi

Karachi is the largest city, main seaport and the main financial centre of Pakistan, as well as the capital of the province of Sindh. The city has an estimated population of 13 to 15 million, while the total metropolitan area has a population of over 18 million...

, Pakistan

Pakistan

Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...

. What began as a consultancy blossomed into an appointment. Dr. Bryant was named Noordin M. Thobani Professor and founding chairman of the Department of Community Health Sciences, a position he held until 1993, when he retired as emeritus professor. In the course of those eight years, Dr. Bryant helped design the curriculum and build the faculty of what became the university’s largest department.
Dr. Bryant has been a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences; he served a tenure as chairman of the Christian Medical Commission of the World Council of Churches, advising that group on how best to continue to participate in health-care delivery in newly independent African states. He helped the council shift its focus from an exclusive dependence on mission hospitals.

As a member since 1982 and president since 1990 of the Council for International Organizations of Medical Sciences, he helped organize a number of international conferences on health policy, ethics and human values, and various aspects of the international pharmaceutical industry. This role has led to many cooperative efforts with the Islamic Organization for Medical Sciences, to which he remains a trusted adviser.

Since the mid-1970s, he has served as a consultant to, and subsequently joined the board of, Hospital Albert Schweitzer Haiti

Hospital Albert Schweitzer Haiti

Hôpital Albert Schweitzer Haiti, founded by Larry Mellon and his wife Gwen Grant Mellon in 1956, is an integrated rural health system that provides medical care and community health and development programs for 300,000 impoverished people in the Artibonite Valley of central Haiti...

.

In 1998, Dr. Bryant engaged in co-organizing a WHO conference in Geneva

Geneva

Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...

 on equity in health-care delivery. This work expanded into a series of workshops on the ethics of health-care delivery, sponsored by the Rockefeller Foundation, and workshops were held in Pakistan, Thailand, Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

, and Colombia

Colombia

Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...

.

He helped the government of Thailand cope with a serious “brain drain” of its physicians from rural to urban areas. He helped create and taught at the Tropical Institute for Community Health and Development for Africa in Kisumu

Kisumu

Kisumu is a port city in western Kenya at , with a population of 355,024 . It is the third largest city in Kenya, the principal city of western Kenya, the immediate former capital of Nyanza Province and the headquarters of Kisumu County. It has a municipal charter but no city charter...

, Kenya

Kenya

Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...

, and lent his guidance to students and faculty in the development there of community-based Orphan Care Support Systems. Among other projects, he is participated in an effort to develop the Pakistan-India Forum for Health and Well-Being as a binational health research collaboration in the interest of peace.

Recipient in 2000 of the Life Time Achievement Award for Excellence in International Health of the American Public Health Association

American Public Health Association

The American Public Health Association is Washington, D.C.-based professional organization for public health professionals in the United States. Founded in 1872 by Dr. Stephen Smith, APHA has more than 30,000 members worldwide...

 and in 2001 of an honorary doctorate of science degree from the University of Arizona

University of Arizona

The University of Arizona is a land-grant and space-grant public institution of higher education and research located in Tucson, Arizona, United States. The University of Arizona was the first university in the state of Arizona, founded in 1885...

. He is author or co-author of multiple books and monographs.

He now lives in a retirement community in Charlottesville, Virginia

Charlottesville, Virginia

Charlottesville is an independent city geographically surrounded by but separate from Albemarle County in the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States, and named after Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, the queen consort of King George III of the United Kingdom.The official population estimate for...

. Each summer, he works in Kenya, teaching in Kisumu at the Tropical Institute for Community Health and Development. He is also working with UN Habitat, Nairobi

Nairobi

Nairobi is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The city and its surrounding area also forms the Nairobi County. The name "Nairobi" comes from the Maasai phrase Enkare Nyirobi, which translates to "the place of cool waters". However, it is popularly known as the "Green City in the Sun" and is...

, on the problems of Aids Orphans and Vulnerable Children in the Urban Slums of Africa.