Dr. John Hogness, the first president of the Institute of
Medicine who shaped it into an unbiased critic of the U.S.
health- care system, died July 2 of heart and kidney failure at
the University of Washington's Wallingford retirement center. He
was 85. The announcement was made by the university, where Dr.
Hogness served as dean of the medical school, vice president of
health sciences and, ultimately, as president. The Institute of
Medicine in Washington, D.C., was a creation of the National
Academy of Sciences, which was chartered by Congress in 1863 to
provide advice on all facets of science. In the 1960s, the
academy concluded that the burgeoning growth of medical research
and treatments required a dedicated organization, and the
institute was formed in 1970. Dr. Hogness took office with a
handful of prestigious physicians as members and a single
staffer. He "had no precedents to follow, and that suited him
well," said institute president Dr. Harvey V. Fineberg. "What he
did from the outset was set a high