In Memoriam: Evelyn V. Hess, 1925-2015

Evelyn V. Hess, professor emerita of internal medicine and the founding director of the Division of Immunology, Rheumatology, and Allergy at the University of Cincinnati’s College of Medicine, died on Christmas Day in Cincinnati. She was 90 years old.

A native of Ireland, Dr. Hess received her medical degree from University College in Dublin. She completed internships and residencies in various London teaching hospitals and had a research fellowship in the epidemiology of tuberculosis. She completed rheumatology fellowships at the Royal Free Hospital and Medical School and the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School.

Dr. Hess joined the faculty at the University of Cincinnati in 1964. In 1969, she was appointed to the Walter A. and George McDonald Chair of Medicine and served in that position for 26 years. According to university officials, Dr. Hess was only the second woman to direct a rheumatology division at any U.S. medical school. Her research was focused on lupus, autoimmune phenomena in AIDS, reproductive immunology, and osteoarthritis.

Awards have been established in her name by the Lupus Foundation of America and the Ohio chapter of the American College of Physicians. In 2009 the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine established the Evelyn V. Hess Chair for Lupus Research.