To honor son’s memory, physician strives to make UNTHSC a better place

By Alex Branch

Dr. Mills

John Mills, DO, has led by example all his life.

As a U.S. Army helicopter pilot during the Vietnam War, he flew reconnaissance missions behind enemy lines, accumulating 832 combat hours.

As a physician, he practiced medicine in West Texas because he saw the scarce medical resources available to people there.

As a longtime UNT Health Science Center faculty member, he founded the university’s correctional medicine program that provides much-needed medical care for the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

Most recently, he created his fifth endowed scholarship to support the education of UNTHSC students, a commitment he hopes students who receive them will one day reciprocate.

“When I talk to students who receive these scholarships, I always say: ‘Hey, you know, you might be making good money one day. Maybe you’ll consider giving something back to support a student following your path,’” Dr. Mills said.

Jeremiah G. Mills Rural Medicine Scholarship s awarded to medical students with an interest in rural medicine. Last year, Dr. Mills created a scholarship to support a student in the field of Physician Assistant Studies.

Each scholarship is named after Dr. Mills’ son, Jeremiah, who died at age 21 from Ewing’s Sarcoma.

“That’s just something I do to permanently remember him, even when I am gone,” Dr. Mills said.

After serving in Vietnam, Dr. Mills earned his medical degree from Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine. After working as a U.S. Army Master Flight Surgeon, he accepted a job in 1989 at the UNTHSC Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine because he viewed it as the best preventive medicine program at an osteopathic medical school in the country.

One day, driving home from work, he heard a radio story about a chemistry professor who worked at another university for 30 years. After he died, the university discovered that he left a $1 million estate to support the chemistry department.

“Off a chemistry professor’s salary, he did that,” Dr. Mills remembered thinking. “He made an impact. I wondered what more I could be doing to make an impact.”

With support from family and friends, Dr. Mills began establishing scholarships for TCOM students and PA students. At a January 2018 UNTHSC scholarship dinner, he met several of the students whose education he supports in his son’s memory.

At age 70, Dr. Mills knows he won’t work at UNTHSC forever. But he can leave with no regrets about the impact he made while there.

“I always wanted a transformational relationship with the Health Science Center,” Dr. Mills said. “And I hope every faculty or staff member or student one day looks back and knows he or she did something to help make it a better place.”


Donate to UNTHSC

Learn how to you can make a gift and support research, education and the future of health care.

Recent News

Abe Clark
  • Research
|Mar 28, 2024

Dr. Abe Clark honored with international research award

Abbot “Abe” Clark, PhD, FARVO, FAAO, regents professor of pharmacology and neuroscience in the School of Biomedical Sciences at The University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth, has received the International Society for Eye Research 2024 Ernst H. Bárány Prize.   The awar...
Processed With Lensa With Pt12 Filter
  • Research
|Mar 28, 2024

Dr. Steven Romero receives American Physiological Society award for excellence in research

Dr. Steven Romero, associate professor of Physiology and Anatomy at the School of Biomedical Sciences at The University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth, was named the 2024 Henry Pickering Bowditch Award Lecturer by the American Physiological Society. The lectureship is awarded to ...
Screenshot 2024 03 28 At 8.50.12 am
  • Our People
|Mar 28, 2024

Physical therapy student lands prestigious role in national organization

When Jonathan Hansen was an undergraduate intern at Texas Health Arlington Memorial Hospital, he encountered a man who had just suffered a stroke. The patient’s right side was completely paralyzed. Hansen, now a first-year student in The University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Wort...
Jackie In Dc
  • Our People
|Mar 27, 2024

Personalized Health and Well-Being student repays generosity through advocacy

In 2019, The University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth student Jacqueline Green said she felt hopeless. She became pregnant while experiencing hard financial times, and she didn’t have insurance. Compounding her stress was terrible grief. Her mother-in-law suddenly passed away,...