It wasn’t long before Dr. Gladney had taken Dr. Bond under his wing. “He would invite me to his house for dinner. I got to know his family. Whenever I needed some consoling or counseling, I could always call John and we would talk about it,” explained Dr. Bond.
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April 2022Dr. Gladney’s practice of actively mentoring trainees never waned, as Dr. Thompson can attest. “It was at a 1997 Triological meeting in Kansas City, Mo., and I was presenting a paper,” she recalled. “I think Dr. Gladney and I were the obvious only two Black physicians in the whole room. He just came up to me with some thoughts and compliments about my paper. Ever since then, he would always reach out at a meeting or intermittently call me during my late residency and throughout the early part of my career, just to check in and see how I was doing, to provide coaching and encouragement.”
The results of Dr. Gladney’s professional and personal support soon became evident. After graduating from medical school, Dr. Bond went on to complete his general surgery training at Indiana University in Indianapolis, and his otolaryngology–head and neck surgery training at Georgetown and the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md. He served honorably in the naval reserves for 28 years, retiring as a captain. He is a diplomate of the American Board of Otolaryngology, and a fellow of the American Academy of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery, the American Society for Head and Neck Surgery, and the National Medical Association.
Through the leadership roles that he held, specifically as the first African American chair of a department, his mentorship transcended race or gender just by who he was and the leadership roles that he held. It was his nature to want to see everybody be successful.
—Dana M. Thompson, MD, MS, MBA
Dr. Gladney was vocal in his support of the Triological Society, recalled Dr. Thompson. “I remember him talking to me about the importance as a Black person of joining the Triological Society as a career differentiator and equalizer. He was so supportive of it and, of course, he was the first African American member,” she said. Indeed, Dr. Thompson followed in Dr. Gladney’s footsteps, becoming the second African American woman to become a member and the first African American to hold a leadership position in the society.
Dr. Thompson recounted a vivid memory about Dr. Gladney. It was early in her career, and she was working at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. “The hospital operator paged me. Dr. Gladney had tracked me down to tell me that he could go to only one meeting that year, and if it was the year that I was going to become a member of the society, then that’s the one he wanted to go to,” she said. “He made the effort to find me just to be able to say that. That’s the kind of person he was.”