Photo by Tonya Hines / Mayfield Clinic.
The past, present and future were celebrated Friday night as the University of Cincinnati Department of Neurosurgery inaugurated the John M. Tew, Jr., MD, Chair in Neurosurgical Oncology and honored the chair’s first holder, Ronald Warnick, MD, at the Queen City Club in downtown Cincinnati.
Dr. Tew, Professor of Neurosurgery, Radiology, and Surgery at UC and Clinical Director of the UC Neuroscience Institute, has been a Mayfield neurosurgeon since 1969. Dr. Warnick, Professor of Neurosurgery and Radiation Oncology and Medical Director of the UC Brain Tumor Center, has been a Mayfield neurosurgeon since 1991.The chair, announced by Mario Zuccarello, MD, Professor and Chairman of the Department of Neurosurgery and the Frank H. Mayfield Chair, is a $2 million endowment at the UC College of Medicine that will fuel research in brain cancer and brain metastasis for generations to come.
The celebration included a proclamation from Ohio Governor John Kasich, numerous tributes to Drs. Tew and Warnick, and a few history lessons, which helped place Dr. Tew’s 44-year career at Mayfield into a broad, glimmering context.
“To fully appreciate the importance and legacy of John Tew, you must learn a bit of history,” said John Hutton, MD, Dean Emeritus at UC.
Dr. Hutton reminded the audience that UC was essentially bankrupt in the late 1970s and was taken over by the State of Ohio. “The College of Medicine and [what was then] General Hospital were in dire straits, but with the help of the state and the community, rebuilding began,” Dr. Hutton said. “John Tew and his mentor, Frank Mayfield, were essential in this process. The new College of Medicine needed an effective teaching hospital, so the Cincinnati General became the University Hospital.
“The old General Hospital’s neurosurgery training program had lost its accreditation,” Dr. Hutton continued. “Dr. Tew, who was already a distinguished neurosurgeon and a member of the Mayfield Clinic at Good Samaritan Hospital, took on the leadership position of Chair of the Department of Neurosurgery and Director of Neurosurgery at University Hospital. He re-established a residency training program in neurosurgery at UC and brought clinical and academic excellence to the institution.”
Dr. Hutton also praised Dr. Tew for his “uncanny ability to spot and develop young talent.” That talent included Dr. Warnick, who was a rising young neurosurgeon when he caught Dr. Tew’s eye.
“I was a brain tumor fellow at the University of California San Francisco with a job offer from the University of Pennsylvania,” Dr. Warnick recalled. “Just before signing the contract, I received a call from John Tew. It was the sheer force of his personality that persuaded me to visit Cincinnati. I arrived in 1991, and since then we have worked side by side on many important projects in neurosurgery and neuro-oncology.”
Robert Lukin, MD, Professor of Radiology at UC, praised Dr. Tew for always pursuing new ideas. He recalled an occasion during the 1970s when Drs. Tew and Mayfield asked whether they could watch him use catheter angiography, which was new then, to treat a young nurse who had suffered a life-threatening aneurysm rupture. They wanted to watch so that they could learn how to do it themselves, Dr. Lukin said, and they may been taken by surprise when he shaped the catheter over a tea kettle.
“John was a leader and an innovator, always wanting to do the best for his patients,” Dr. Lukin said.
Dr. Zuccarello recalled lessons he learned from Dr. Tew. “To be a neurosurgeon, you need to be an excellent clinician and surgeon and never be satisfied with what you do because you’re pursuing perfection,” he said. “Dr. Tew was one of my most demanding mentors, and he demands no less of himself than of his students.”
Ginger Warner, a University of Cincinnati Trustee, commended Drs. Tew and Warnick for serving patients in their city, state, and region. “It is really a higher calling,” she said, “as what you do goes beyond our borders.”
Mrs. Warner read Governor Kasich’s proclamation, in which he recognized Dr. Warnick as the John M. Tew Chair, commended him for his commitment and dedication, and expressed his certainty that “you will change many lives in the coming years.”
Dr. Tew thanked all in attendance and the community at large for supporting the Tew Chair. “This has been a huge team effort,” he said. “We acknowledge that we owe you an enormous debt of appreciation, and we commit to you that we will nurture these resources and expand the trust that you have imparted to us.”
Dr. Warnick thanked Dr. Tew for his mentorship and for teaching him three critical lessons: to relentlessly pursue the right course, no matter how difficult; to recognize the importance of collaboration and community involvement to ensure the long-term success of a program; and to understand that the most important job of a brain tumor physician is to provide hope through expertise, education, and research.
In thanking the community that had entrusted him with the Tew Chair, Dr. Warnick said, “I’m going to work tirelessly to exceed your expectations … I will make you proud.”
— Cindy Starr