U. honors doctor for neonatal advances

A pioneering neonatologist who established Utah's first newborn intensive care unit in 1968 has been honored with a presidential endowed chair in his name at the University of Utah School of Medicine.

Dr. August L. (Larry) Jung was recognized for his pioneering work and honored with the endowed chair in the Division of Neonatology, Department of Pediatrics. The pediatrics department endowed the chair, which a physician will be selected to hold, with $1.25 million.

Jung trained the first generation of neonatologists and established neonatal care units throughout the Mountain West, said Edward B. Clark, M.D., professor and chairman of pediatrics a the medical school and medical director of Primary Children's Medical Center.

"Dr. Jung changed the lives of thousands of infants and their families," Clark said. "His legacy will live on in the children whose lives were changed."

Jung, whose parents ran a pumpernickel bakery in Chicago, came to Utah in 1953 to study forestry at Utah State University. He met his wife, Joy, while at USU and they were married in 1956 and are the parents of four children.

Because of an illness of their first-born daughter, Christine, Jung became interested in the needs of newborn babies. He switched his career to medicine, graduating from the U. medical school in 1961, then completed a pediatric residency.

In 1967, Jung took a six-month fellowship in neonatology under one of the pioneers in the field, Dr. Lula Lubchenco at the University of Colorado.

Under Jung's direction, the U. opened its neonatal intensive care unit in July 1968. It was housed in a single room with the capacity to care for five babies. It was the only one between Denver and the West Coast and Phoenix and Canada.

Equipment was bought in small amounts or borrowed from other areas of University Hospital. Jung and his nurses sold doughnuts to raise money to buy a heart-rate monitor.

When the neonatal intensive care unit opened, the mortality rate was 15 deaths per 1,000 live births. Within a year, that rate had been halved and the unit had received its first patients via airplane and helicopter transport. In 1975, Jung established a neonatal team specifically for aiding in the transport of babies.

In 2003, the NBICU cared for 597 babies. It is a large reason Utah has one of the lowest infant mortality rates in the country at 4.8 deaths per 1,000 live births.

The Division of Neonatology today has a faculty of 22 and has trained 45 fellows since its 1973 founding, much of this through Jung's teaching of students, interns, residents and nurses. Five of his former faculty have been or are division chiefs at major U.S. universities.

In 1999, Jung stepped down as chief of neonatology but he continues as a professor. The establishment of a chair in his name came as a "total surprise" he said. "I'm very flattered. It was a great honor to receive this award."

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