The real J.D. who inspired Scrubs is currently helping a coronavirus command center

Omar Sanchez
·3 min read

The story of doctor John Dorian ended after season 10 of Scrubs in 2010, but the person who inspired Zach Braff's famous character is still on the medical front lines: and he's helping those in need during the coronavirus pandemic.

On Thursday, Scrubs creator Bill Lawrence quote tweeted a man by the name of Jon Doris who said he was working at a COVID command center. A command center is typically a centralized location where health experts can strategize an adequate response for the area they're in. If the name Jon Doris seems not far off from the name given to the daydreamer played by Braff, it's because he was literally based on Doris. Lawrence was a friend of Doris when they went to school at the College of William & Mary.

"This is the guy I based SCRUBS on and my best pal from college," Lawrence wrote. "He’s out here in Los Angeles running a hospital (like JD would), and I’m proud he’s a pal. He changes clothes in his garage at night to try to keep his kids from getting sick and IS married to “real Elliot”."

Doris was the medical advisor throughout the run of Scrubs, which ran from 2001-2010. Doris appeared in the first series finale as one of the doctors Braff passed in the hallway. Doris is currently working in Cardiology/Electrophysiology with Kaiser Permanente, according to his Twitter bio.

"When I first saw that the character was named after me, and then I saw the pilot, I was hoping that my patients wouldn't put two-and-two together," Doris said in a Scrubs behind-the-scenes featurette available online.

As part of his role on the show, Doris would often help the stars understand the jargon and procedures in their scripts. "You just gotta sound it out. It's like another language," Braff says in the same video when asked about learning medical terminology.

Bob D'Amico/Walt Disney Television via Getty Images; NBC

Believe it or not, Scrubs has helped people learn about social distancing during the coronavirus. This clip resurfaced from season 6, showing Chief of Medicine Dr. Kelso (Ken Jenkins) explaining to Janitor (Neil Flynn) how careful you have to be with infections, since they are the No. 1 cause of death in a hospital.

Since the start of the coronavirus outbreak in the United States, Hollywood figures have done what they can to not only spread awareness of disease prevention but also directly help with the growing number of patients in hospitals. TV medical dramas like Grey's Anatomy and The Resident have donated boxes of masks for hospitals that are short on equipment. Stars like Rihanna and Taylor Swift have pitched in to help individuals who are having hardships because of the mass closures during the quarantine.

For the latest information on coronavirus (COVID-19), including how to protect yourself and what to do if you think you are sick, please visit coronavirus.gov.

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