In Memoriam: Dr. John Yerger Gibson

Published on Monday, May 16, 2022

The Medical Center extends its sympathy to the family of a former faculty member in appreciation for the loved one’s contributions to the academic health sciences center.

Dr. John Yerger Gibson

Dr. John Yerger Gibson of Ridgeland, a radiologist whose work with the medical imaging procedure, ultrasound, greatly benefitted patients at the Medical Center, died on April 22, 2022. He was 88.

A native of Meridian, Gibson attended Louisiana State University, where he served in the Army ROTC. After graduating from the School of Medicine at UMMC in 1960, he did his internship in Tampa, Florida, and was called to voluntary service in the U.S. Army at Fort Polk, Louisiana.

Later, he worked for three years at the Field Memorial Community Hospital, formerly the Field Hospital and Clinic, in Centreville, located in Amite and Wilkinson counties. Gibson did his radiology residency training in Jackson, and in 1975, trained in sonography and established the ultrasound division in the Department of Radiology.

“John was a wonderful godsend to the Medical Center, especially in his work focusing on ultrasound,” said Dr. James Keeton, UMMC vice chancellor emeritus for health affairs and dean emeritus of the School of Medicine, who met Gibson in 1975.

“In my specialty, pediatric urology, we used ultrasound a great deal on children, which eliminated the need to use a needle for certain procedures. So having John here was a real plus,” said Keeton, a 1965 graduate of the School of Medicine.

“He would spend as much time as was required to look at the sonograms [pictures generated by the ultrasound] and assign what should be done.

“In dealing with him personally, I found him to be so kind. He was a true gentleman and was in medicine for all the right reasons.”

Gibson, who enjoyed teaching, was also an award-winning artist and a writer. He was in his eighties when he published his first novel, “Into the Silence,” in 2017, for which he illustrated the cover. 

Decades earlier, while at LSU, he had met his wife, Dorothy Stuart Liles. In 1960, they were married in Jackson, at St. James Episcopal Church. After his retirement, as a resident of Beau Ridge Independent Living community, he wrote a history of that church and led a monthly Bible study.