When Jonathan M. Chrest, MD ’75, looks back on his path to medicine, he remembers a sense of purpose that arrived early — and never left.
“I was about 13 when I felt God’s hand on my shoulder,” he said. “It wasn’t a big, dramatic moment. I just knew that I was supposed to be a doctor.”
That quiet conviction carried him from a suburban Chicago high school classroom to the University of Kentucky College of Medicine, where he would become one of the youngest students ever admitted.
In 1970, as an 18-year-old UK undergraduate with 18 hours of advanced placement credits, Dr. Chrest caught the attention of his premedical advisor. When UK began exploring an early-admission pathway for exceptional students, the advisor encouraged him to apply. “I didn’t even have a full set of college grades yet,” he recalled with a laugh. “But they decided to take a chance on me.”
Despite his youth, Dr. Chrest quickly found mentors who shaped his training and his outlook. He recalled Ward Griffen, MD, then chair of surgery, and Jacqueline Noonan, MD, the pioneering pediatric cardiologist who left a deep impression. “She was a giant in her field — small in stature but incredible in mind and character,” he said. “I admired her deeply.”
Still, being the youngest in his class wasn’t always easy. “Most of my classmates were several years older, some married with kids,” he said. “I didn’t exactly fit in socially, but I found my place — mostly on the softball field.” His intramural team went on to win the Kentucky state championship that year, a memory he still recalls with pride.
After earning his medical degree, Dr. Chrest pursued residency in anesthesiology at UT Southwestern Medical School and Parkland Hospital in Dallas, Texas. “Parkland was an incredible place — one of the busiest trauma centers in the country,” he said.
He remained in Texas for the rest of his career, helping open a new hospital just outside of Dallas, where he practiced anesthesiology for 25 years. “It was a family,” he said of his close-knit surgical team. “We did a lot of good for a lot of people. That’s what I’m most proud of — the work we did together.”
Dr. Chrest eventually retired to East Texas, where he and his wife, a former surgical nurse, live on a farm just a few miles from the historic Morton Salt Mine. “When you buy that blue container of salt,” he joked, “it probably came from under our feet.”
Dr. Chrest remains grateful for the foundation that began in Lexington more than five decades ago. “The UK College of Medicine gave me my start,” he said. “And that start gave me a life’s worth of purpose.”
During the 2025 College of Medicine Alumni Reunion, Dr. Chrest and his wife celebrated their 44th wedding anniversary. “I couldn’t have done any of this without her,” he said. “She raised our boys, held things together when I was working long hours, and kept me grounded.”
Their sons both pursued service-oriented careers — one as a Dallas police officer and the other as a firefighter and paramedic. “They didn’t follow me into medicine,” he said, “but they both found ways to care for others. That’s what matters most.”
When asked what advice he would share with today’s medical students, he offered the kind of perspective only experience brings. “Work hard, of course,” he said. “But make time for your family. Set boundaries. Medicine is a calling — but it’s not the only one. You have to protect the parts of your life that make you whole.”