University News

Bergman Chair Inaugurated April 30

The August H. Bergman, M.D., Endowed Chair in Cardiology has become the 10th endowed chair in the Creighton University School of Medicine and the 32nd established at the University. The endowment is a gift from alumnus August H. “Gus” Bergman, BS’60, MD’66, of Prescott, Ariz., an accomplished and respected cardiologist. Aryan Mooss, M.D., professor of medicine in the Division of Cardiology, is the first chairholder.

At the inauguration ceremony April 30, Creighton University President the Rev. John P. Schlegel, S.J., noted that Bergman shares the University’s vision and understands the value of “integrating education, research and patient care to attain the highest level of quality in each.

“Dr. Bergman, you can be proud, as we are, of the man chosen to be the first holder of the chair that bears your name. Dr. Aryan Mooss has brought credit to Creighton University for 32 years,” said Fr. Schlegel.

Mooss, a native of India and naturalized U.S. citizen, received his medical degree in India in 1969. He completed his graduate medical education at Medical College of Ohio at Toledo and Creighton University School of Medicine. He joined the Creighton faculty in 1976 in the Department of Medicine and is currently professor of medicine in the Division of Cardiology.

During his 32 years with Creighton, Mooss has established a large cardiology practice and is regularly included in the “America’s Best Doctors” and “Best Cardiologists” lists. In 2002, he received the Master Clinician Award from the School of Medicine. He directed cardiology fellowship training from 1996 to 2006, a time when the program grew to become one of the most sought after, and continues to play a pivotal role in training cardiology fellows. Mooss also conducts clinical research, and was director of cardiovascular research from 1996 to 2006.

Bergman came to Creighton University from a farm north of Baileyville, Kan., the seventh of eight children. His mother, Elizabeth Catherine Bergman, was widowed twice and raised her children largely single-handedly. Bergman credits his mother, a teacher, with instilling her love for education in her children. His interest in medicine began at age 6, with the illness and death of his father, Joseph Bergman.

Bergman and his late brother, Charles, who also attended Creighton, were greatly influenced by the Rev. Richard McGloin, S.J., who took the Bergmans under his wing. Bergman became the founder of the cardiology department at Memorial Hospital of Dodge County in Fremont, Neb., where he practiced cardiology for more than 20 years and served as department head for more than 10 years. He also was the director of the medical intensive care-coronary care unit at that hospital. Since 1994, he has been practicing medicine at the Northern Arizona Veterans Administration Health Care System in Prescott, Ariz.

He has maintained close ties with Creighton, and his daughters, Heather Bergman Efaw, BS’97, and Heidi Bergman Hong, BSBA’99, followed their father to the University. “This endowed chair exemplifies my father’s lifelong commitment to Creighton University,” said Heather, “both in appreciation for his own education at Creighton as well as the future education of others.”