Dr. John Wright Middleton was born in Greenville, Texas on August 3, 1912. He graduated from Virginia Military Institute in 1933 and the University of Texas Medical Branch in 1937. Post-graduate training was done at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, Michigan,
and a special fellowship in pulmonary disease was completed at Bellevue Hospital in New York City. Dr. Middleton was a retired colonel in the United States Army. From 1940 to 1945, he was in active military service in the Army Medical Corps. Upon
his return from service, Dr. Middleton was made a member of the faculty of the University of Texas Medical Branch where he devoted himself to the clinical field of pulmonary diseases, teaching at UTMB from 1946 to 1967 and serving as Director of Pulmonary
Medicine. At UTMB, he was director of Student Health Services from 1947 to 1953, clinical director of Ziegler Hospital from 1953 to 1967, and chief of staff at UTMB in 1964. In addition, he served on the staff of St. Mary's Hospital from 1950 to 1985.
In 1968, he joined Internal Medicine Associates to engage in the private practice of internal medicine, retiring from full-time practice in 1985.
Dr. Middleton was a member of the Texas Medical Association, the American Medical Association, the American Thoracic Society, the University of Texas Chapter Sigma Xi, the Texas Academy of Internal Medicine, the San Jacinto Tuberculosis and Respiratory
Association, and the Texas Society of Internal Medicine. Dr. Middleton was also a member of the Galveston County Medical Society, the Antituberculosis Association of Galveston County, the Texas Club of Internists, and the board of directors of the
Texas Tuberculosis Association, serving each organization as president. He was a diplomat of the American Board of Internal Medicine, a fellow of the American College of Physicians, and fellow of the Academy College of Chest Physicians, serving as
president of the Texas Chapter from 1962-1963. Dr. Middleton died on February 12, 1998 in Galveston, Texas.
The John W. Middleton, M.D. Lectureship in Pulmonary Medicine was established by his family in his honor.