Ernest W. Johnson, MD
AANEM 1989 Lifetime Achievement Award Winner

Dr. Ernest W. Johnson was born on January 12, 1924 and graduated from Akron Central High School in Akron, Ohio in 1941. He originally planned on journalism as a career, but after being drafted by the US Army in 1942 and returning home almost 4 years later, he decided to enter into medical school. He attained both his bachelor and medical degree from Ohio State University. In 1957, Dr. Johnson graduated from Ohio State with a Master of Medical Science. He completed an internship at Philadelphia General Hospital in 1953, a physical medicine and rehabilitation residency at Ohio State University Hospital in 1957, and a fellowship with the National Foundation of Infantile Paralysis in 1957.

Dr. Johnson then became the Assistant Medical Director of the Regional Respiratory Center at Children’s Hospital in Columbus. He later returned to Ohio State and held several positions over the years, including Associate Dean of the College of Medicine, and Professor in the Department of Physical Medicine.

In 1963, Dr. Johnson started offering review courses in electromyography (EMG) to help physicians keep up-to-date in their practice, and by the end of the decade, the courses were so popular that they were offered twice per year. In 1978, a physiatrist from Puerto Rico suggested that the course should be held on a cruise, which then led to the official founding of Dr. Johnson’s “Super EMG” courses.

Dr. Johnson has been a member of the AANEM since 1958. He was Secretary-Treasurer in 1968, AANEM President in 1972, and served on the Board from 1972-75. He has also served on numerous AANEM committees. Dr. Johnson was chairman of the examination committee and presided over the first written examination offered by the AANEM. He was the American Board of Electrodiagnostic Medicine (ABEM) Chair in 1994, and has been on the ABEM Board and several ABEM committees. Dr. Johnson’s many contributions to the AANEM have made him a valued member of the association and the field of neuromuscular disease. In addition to his service to the AANEM, Dr. Johnson has served as president of the American Association of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, and the Association of Academic Physiatrists. He has been vice-president of the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine.

He is also accomplished in the publishing field. Dr. Johnson has authored/co-authored over 200 publications in electrodiagnostic and physical medicine and served as editor of the American Journal of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation from 1968-2001, and editor of the Journal of the Ohio State University College of Medicine from 1960-2000.