If you’re ever in Charlotte, North Carolina, chances are a local will recommend a visit to Serenity Garden. The four-acre property is home to azaleas, waterfalls, and art installations that blend seamlessly with nature. On any given day, you might even see a wedding.
The garden was home to Patrick “Pat” Reames, MD, who moved to the then-wooded lot in 1968 and lived there until his death in 2023. It remains part of the life he and his wife, Patsy, built in Charlotte. Now, Patsy is ensuring Pat’s influence extends beyond Serenity Garden — to Johns Hopkins, where he trained as a radiologist in the early 1960s under Dr. Russell H. Morgan, who later became the namesake of the Department of Radiology and Radiological Science.
Throughout his career, Pat remained grateful for Morgan’s mentorship, which played a pivotal role in shaping his path. Notably, Morgan helped Pat secure a position as assistant chief of radiology at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), allowing him to fulfill his military obligation during the Korean War.
In appreciation of the training and opportunities Pat received at Hopkins, he and his wife, Patsy, were dedicated supporters of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and the Department of Radiology for two decades through annual, current-use giving. Shortly after Pat’s passing, Patsy sought a lasting way to honor his legacy. She established The Patrick M. Reames, M.D., Fund, an endowment that will provide resources to advance clinical care and education, strengthening the department’s clinical and academic missions for years to come.
Her commitment to Hopkins didn’t stop there. Less than a year later, Patsy deepened her support with a transformative estate gift, which will create two new endowed funds — The Patrick and Patsy Reames Professorship in Radiology and The Patrick and Patsy Reames Research Fund.
“I felt so blessed being married to Pat, and he was such an exceptional person,” Patsy says, adding she and Pat met and married in the early 2000s. “I wanted to do something to honor him.”
Pat’s career took him from Hopkins, where he spent three years as a resident, to the Scripps Clinic in La Jolla, California, working with celebrity patients like actors John Wayne and Shirley MacLaine. In 1966, he moved to Charlotte to join Mecklenburg Radiology Associates, where he established and led the nuclear medicine department. He remained with the practice until his retirement in 1997, dedicating more than three decades to diagnosing and improving the health of thousands of patients.
The commitment from the Reames estate marks the largest gift in the Department of Radiology and Radiological Science’s history. Karen Horton, MD, the Martin W. Donner Professor and department director, emphasizes the critical role of philanthropy in radiology.
“Clinician-scientists play an essential role in translating research into real-world treatments, but to do that effectively, they need funding to protect their time from daily clinical demands,” she says, adding an endowed professorship allows faculty to spend more time on groundbreaking research.
Because much of radiology happens behind the scenes, Horton notes, the field often faces challenges in attracting philanthropy.
“Most departments have grateful patients, but there can be a disconnect between patients and radiologists,” she says. “Radiology is integral to care, but you don’t necessarily know us. Most of the time, we’re just a name on the report.”
The resources from the Reames’ gifts will help equip trainees with the skills they need to navigate a rapidly evolving field. Funding will allow residents to learn from outside experts in artificial intelligence and the business of radiology, critical areas shaping the future of the specialty.
“We need to ensure trainees aren’t just prepared for how we practice today but equipped with the skills to succeed in the radiology of the future,” Horton says.
For Patsy, a trained nurse, the rapid evolution of medicine is both remarkable and inspiring.
“Life has just mushroomed with technology,” she says. “I haven’t studied radiology, but it’s life-changing. People are living longer.”
Pat, who trained at Hopkins during what Horton calls “the golden years” of radiology, embraced new technology throughout his career. His longtime colleague Jim Fagan, MD, recalls how Pat took the initiative to learn ultrasound when it was first introduced, even training the practice’s first ultrasound technologist.
Fagan joined Mecklenburg Radiology Associates seven years after Pat and remembers him as a loyal colleague. Coming from “one of the premier training programs of the time,” Fagan says Pat had an exceptional ability to assess scans and determine whether findings were cause for concern.
If a scan was unremarkable, Pat would simply say, “We see this.” When cases were more complex, his explanations were famously detailed.
“It was like asking him what time it was — he wouldn’t just tell you the time, he’d explain how to make a watch,” Fagan quips.
That depth of knowledge and generosity defined Pat, both as a radiologist and as a mentor. Now, Patsy hopes his legacy will continue through the endowments in both their names. In addition to celebrating her husband, the funds will also honor her memory and enduring philanthropic impact, ensuring that her generosity continues to support meaningful initiatives for generations to come.
“I want to keep his memory alive,” she says. “In 10 years, it would be wonderful if a student might look at a picture and say, ‘This is Dr. Reames, who the professorship is named after, and this is the kind of person he was.’”
Topics: Alumni, Friends of Johns Hopkins Medicine, Johns Hopkins Medicine, School of Medicine, Fuel Discovery, Promote and Protect Health, Support Scholars