John S. Graettinger, MD, Endowed Scholarship for Rush Medical College

The John S. Graettinger, MD, Endowment for Rush Medical College was established by admirers of Dr. Graettinger after his passing in 1996.

A native of California, Dr. Graettinger graduated from Harvard College and Harvard Medical School. After overseeing cardiac research for the U.S. Navy, he joined the staff of Presbyterian Hospital in Chicago in 1953 and established its section of cardiovascular diseases.

In 1956, after Presbyterian and St. Luke’s Hospital merged to form what is now known as Rush University Medical Center, Dr. Graettinger was chairman of the Department of Internal Medicine until 1970. Among his many accomplishments at Rush, Dr. Graettinger and his team developed one of the first implantable pacemakers and implanted the device on the first patient in Illinois. At the time of his retirement in 1992, Dr. Graettinger had served Rush in many leadership roles, including dean of student and faculty affairs, dean of graduate and continuing education, and university marshal.

From 1975 to 1989, Dr. Graettinger was also the executive vice president of the National Resident Matching Program, which places medical school graduates into their first year of residency training. He helped modernize the matching process into what it is today.