Dr. Jannice Owens Aaron 

(Inducted in 1999)

Dr. Jannice Aaron is one of the women pioneers in the medical field, working her way from registered nurse to chair of Diagnostic Radiology at the University of Louisville School of Medicine. At the time of her appointment, she was one of three women to hold such a position in the United States, and the only woman department head at the U of L Medical School.

In addition, Dr. Aaron developed a Teleradiology program for Vencor Hospitals, a network of 54 hospitals in 42 states. (She is licensed in all 42.) Through this program -- the largest in the world -- all Vencor hospitals send their images (X-rays, scans, ultrasounds) via fiber optic cable to the facility in Louisville to be interpreted. A diagnostic report is then dictated electronically into the patient's chart.

A 1973 WKU graduate, Dr. Aaron received her medical degree from U of L. She completed an internal medicine internship at U of L; a radiology residency at Yale University School of Medicine; and a fellowship in neuroradiology at the Harvard Medical School.

Since that time, Dr. Aaron has divided her time between practicing medicine and teaching. She began teaching at U of L in 1991 and progressed through the ranks from associate clinical professor to clinical lecturer to acting chair to chair of Diagnostic Radiology -- with 16 residents -- a post she held until her retirement from U of L in 1997.

Before becoming the medical director of the Imaging Center for Vencor-Louisville Hospital in 1995, Dr. Aaron served as chair and medical director of St. Anthony Medical Center Imaging Center in Louisville and staff physician of Humana Hospital Audubon in Louisville. She also works as a general radiologist and neuroradiologist at the Jane Todd Crawford Hospital and South Central KY Open MRI in Greensburg, not far from Campbellsville where she lived her early years. She has one son, Trent, who lives in California.

Dr. Aaron has held numerous positions in professional organizations, including the first chairperson of the Student Section of the AMA and president of the Greater Louisville Radiological Association. She was the first chairperson of the Healing Place for Women, Louisville's nationally-recognized homeless shelter.

During her career, Dr. Aaron has published more than 30 books, articles and research activities and made nearly 50 presentations. She is also the author of "Open Heart," a collection of short stories about her patients, and is currently writing a novel. She now lives in a house overlooking Lake Jericho on a farm in Henry County, where she raises Belted Galloway cattle and keeps her horses.