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In memoriam

By Merin C. MacDonald, Department of Medicine Communications | Published January 16, 2025

Ira S. Ockene, MD

Ira S. Ockene, MD, professor emeritus of medicine, passed away on December 25, 2024, due to medical complications from Alzheimer's disease.

Dr. Ockene’s distinguished career spanned five decades. He was recruited to UMass Chan Medical School and UMass Memorial Medical Center in 1975, joining the school and newly built University Hospital as one of their earliest faculty members. He was the founding director of the cardiac catheterization lab, leading the lab from 1975 to 1986, and later went on to serve as director of the Preventive Cardiology Program from 1987 through his retirement a couple of years ago. He also served as the associate director of the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine from 1985 to 2005 and was the David J. and Barbara D. Milliken Professor in Preventive Cardiology.

Dr. Ockene’s pioneering work in preventive cardiovascular medicine had a meaningful impact on cardiovascular patient care and preventive health strategies. As a physician-scientist, his contributions ranged from novel studies and clinical research to innovative preventive and integrative health care initiatives for patients. He was funded as a principal or co-investigator on cardiovascular disease and health studies that focused on smoking, diet, diabetes, and cholesterol, among others, throughout his career. Outside of his work at UMass Chan, Dr. Ockene served as a consultant to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Office of the Surgeon General, and the U.S. Department of Justice on the direct association between smoking and cardiovascular disease.

Dr. Ockene was equally committed to teaching preventive strategies to the next generation of clinicians and researchers, specifically our residents and fellows, and cherished his role as a mentor. “Ira loved to speak and listen to everyone, no matter what their roles or ranks were,” said Judy Ockene, PhD, professor emeritus of population and quantitative health sciences and medicine at UMass Chan. “He was never too hurried to listen and his love of people was always evident. He was also a great storyteller.”

In 2022, Dr. Ockene was awarded the Chancellor’s Medal for Distinguished Clinical Excellence. At the ceremony, Chancellor Collins said that Dr. Ockene arrived in 1975 “as the paint was drying and before the university’s hospital opened.” He continued, “This award is a fitting recognition for one who has cared for individual patients and for populations; for one who has engaged the community in its role in prevention; and for one who has served this institution and your patients for nearly five decades.”

In the wake of his unexpected passing last month, Dr. Ockene’s family remarked, “Ira had a fabulous youth in the Bronx, a long and wonderful career as a cardiologist and teacher, a family life full of love and joy, and many glorious sailing days on the coast of Maine...we will miss Ira immensely.”

We offer our sincere condolences to Dr. Ockene’s family including his wife, Dr. Judy Ockene, as well as his friends, former students, and longtime colleagues.

In his honor, the Department of Medicine will establish the Ira S. Ockene, MD, Memorial Cardiovascular Medicine Lecture to take place as part of our Medical Grand Rounds series. More information about this memorial lecture will be announced in the future.

Those wishing to make a contribution in Dr. Ockene’s honor may do so by sending a gift to Doctors Without Borders.

As Dr. Ockene beautifully expressed to his colleagues in the audience when he received the Chancellor’s Medal in 2022, “We did a lot of work together. Thank you all.”