John R. Senior, M’54, a former clinical professor of medicine at Penn’s School of Medicine, passed away on January 25 from complications of COVID-19. He was 94.

Born in Germantown, Philadelphia, Dr. Senior graduated at the top of his class from Philadelphia’s Central High School. After graduating, he enlisted in the Naval Reserve, where he served in the Naval Air Transport Service in the Pacific Ocean, specializing in submarine medicine and rising to the rank of two-star rear admiral. He then earned a bachelor’s degree in physics from Penn State University and, in 1954, a doctor of medicine from Penn’s School of Medicine. He completed his residency at Penn, then spent three years as a research fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard University. 

In 1962, Dr. Senior returned to Penn, joining the department of medicine as an assistant professor. He was promoted to associate professor in 1968 and to a full clinical professor eleven years later. During his time at Penn, Dr. Senior specialized in hepatology and gastroenterology and conducted early research with computers, winning a grant in 1971 to study software techniques for assessing clinical competence. In the mid-1970s, Dr. Senior and his colleagues made groundbreaking improvements to the process of blood transfusions, a process that was first performed successfully at the now-closed Philadelphia General Hospital, where he was a senior attending physician and director of the gastrointestinal research laboratory. He also worked closely with Baruch Blumberg, who in 1976 was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovery of the “Australian Antigen” as a biomarker of hepatitis B. Dr. Senior implemented Dr. Blumberg’s procedures at Philadelphia General Hospital. 

Dr. Senior left Penn in 1981 to become Vice President for Worldwide Clinical Affairs at the Sterling-Winthrop Research Institute, where he consulted with pharmaceutical companies across the world. Then, from 1995 to 2009, Dr. Senior worked as the Associate Director of Science at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). There, he took an active role in creating a set of guidelines for the safe treatment of liver disease, exposed several hitherto-unknown safety issues with pharmaceutical products, and researched conditions that made certain people particularly susceptible to liver disease. At the FDA, Dr. Senior initiated a series of two-day gatherings of research presentations and fact-finding, which became known as “John Senior meetings.” Dr. Senior also served as president of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases in 1974, and he received its Distinguished Service Award in 2017. 

He is survived by his wife, Sara (née Spedden); his children, John, Laura, and Lisa; six grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren. A private memorial service was held on February 24. Donations in his name may be made to the Mohonk Preserve, P.O. Box 715, New Paltz, N.Y. 12561.

---

To Report A Death

Almanac appreciates being informed of the deaths of current and former faculty and staff members, students and other members of the University community. Email almanac@upenn.edu.

However, notices of alumni deaths should be directed to the Alumni Records Office at Suite 300, 2929 Walnut St. at record@ben.dev.upenn.edu.