John Zone, MD
The Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine Distinguished Service Award
John Zone, MD
Recognizing individuals, both alumni and non-alumni, who have made outstanding contributions to the Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine, the community, and the practice of medicine
When John Zone, MD, arrived at the University of Utah in 1978, he was a young physician with big ambitions and an eagerness to seize opportunities—those that allowed him to serve, to build, and to grow.
“At the base of everything we do at the University of Utah is opportunity,” he says. “Throughout my 46 years at the U, I have had the opportunity to work with incredible people who—like me—want to serve the university, the health sciences system, and the Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine.”
For 34 years, Zone chaired the Department of Dermatology, which was still a small division when he took the helm in 1986. Over this period, he transformed the Department of Dermatology into a nationally ranked program, launching a dermatology residency and leading the department’s expansion across clinical care, research, and education.
Zone’s leadership was tested during the early 2000s, when the medical school faced a major funding crisis. David Bjorkman, MD ’80, then dean of the School of Medicine, remembers Zone’s steady hand during that time.
“We experienced some difficult financial times, but because of John Zone, the medical school not only survived, it prospered,” Bjorkman says. “He had an incredible memory for where the money was and how it was being used, and he was a consensus builder who was able to bring people together during a challenging moment in our history.”
In 2015, Zone spearheaded the creation of the department’s state-of-the-art facility at the Midvalley Health Center in Murray, Utah. His goal was to build his program into one of the best departments in the country, providing adequate space and resources for subspecialty care.
“Throughout my 46 years at the U, I have had the opportunity to work with incredible people—who—like me—want to serve the health sciences system, and the Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine.”
“That was a defining moment because it showed me I could have a lasting impact,” he says. “It allowed me to be of service to my faculty and provide them with the best possible facility to do what they do best.”
Beyond his administrative achievements, Zone’s role as a physician has remained central to his identity. Bjorkman refers to him as “the ultimate clinician,” recalling how Zone once left his home late at night to make a house call for Bjorkman’s father, who was experiencing a dermatologic emergency.
“That’s the kind of physician John Zone is,” Bjorkman says. “He is a gifted clinician, an outstanding teacher, a remarkable investigator, an incredible administrator—just an all-around great person.”
For Zone, receiving the 2025 Distinguished Service Award validates the decades of hard work, collaboration, and sacrifice that turned his dream of building a world-class dermatology department into a reality.
“The U has provided me with an exceptional career, one filled with wonderful colleagues and vast opportunities to educate, research, and lead,” he says. “As a graduate of the University of Notre Dame, I used to bleed green. But this place has changed who I am: now I bleed Utah red.”