The University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Medicine Alumni
Association recently honored John Filkins, M.D., L. Thomas Hood, M.D.,
and Edward Malashock, M.D., with the UNMC College of Medicine Distinguished
Alumni Award for their significant contributions to UNMC and the medical
profession.
The 1946 College of Medicine graduates went on to become pioneers in
the areas of ophthalmology, orthopaedics and urology. They were honored
Oct. 5 during the College of Medicine Alumni Association Reunion at the
Western Heritage Museum.
Dr. Filkins, an emeritus professor at UNMC, was honored for helping
found the Lions Eye Bank of Nebraska in the 1960s. The organization, dedicated
to providing the highest quality of human eye tissue to restore vision
to those with visual difficulties, provided 335 corneas for sight-restoring
transplant in 2000. At any given time, there are 50 to 70 people waiting
for a cornea transplant in Nebraska.
Dr. Filkins did his residency at UNMC from 1949 to 1951 after an internship
in Boston and two years as a medical officer at the U.S. Navy submarine
base in New London, Conn. He later served as clinical professor of
ophthalmology at UNMC and eye surgeon at the Omaha VA Hospital. In 1958,
he performed one of the states first corneal transplants at Clarkson Hospital.
Dr. Filkins held high-ranking appointments on the Clarkson medical staff,
including chairman of the department of ophthalmology. He also was actively
involved in a variety of professional organizations and served as president
of the American College of Surgeons Nebraska Chapter and the Nebraska Academy
of Ophthalmology. He retired in 1990.
Dr. Hood was honored for creating an orthopaedic residency program at
UNMC and for performing the first hip replacement surgery in Nebraska.
He is a retired orthopaedic surgeon and former chairman of the UNMC department
of orthopaedic surgery (1968 to 1974).
During his tenure at UNMC, Dr. Hood was charged with starting a residency
program in orthopaedics. The program recently finished training its 100th
resident.
In the early 1970s, he went to Europe to study total hip arthroplasty.
When he returned to the United States, he became the first physician in
Nebraska to perform hip replacement surgery. He subsequently trained other
physicians in the procedure.
It was a turning point in joint replacement, Dr. Hood once said. Hip
replacements are so common now that we dont think about them as an unusual
operation. Last year, approximately 2,500 hip replacements were performed
on patients in Nebraska hospitals.
Dr. Hood retired in 1984, capping a 32-year career in medicine. In recent
years, Dr. Hood and his wife, Marjorie, have made contributions to the
University of Nebraska Foundation to establish a charitable remainder annuity
trust for a professorship in the UNMC department of orthopaedic surgery
the L. Thomas Hood, M.D. Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery. They also
have made gift arrangements to the UNMC McGoogan Library of Medicine.
Dr. Malaschock was honored for being among the states pioneers in urologic
surgery. He was the urological surgeon on the Clarkson Hospital team
that performed the first two kidney transplants in Nebraska in 1965. He
retired in 1989 after 36 years in the private practice of urology.
Following his residency, Dr. Malashock joined in the private practice
of urology with Drs. Edwin Davis and Leroy Lee. He also became a UNMC faculty
member that year and continued in that role, serving as clinical professor
of surgery, section of urology, until his retirement. He continues in emeritus
status as UNMC.
Dr. Malashocks partnership practice changed to Urology Associates,
P.C. in 1977, and he served as president of the organization until his
retirement.
During his years in practice, professional activities included Clarkson
Hospital medical staff, serving as president in 1976 and 1977, and Metropolitan
Omaha Medical Society, including serving as president in 1979. He was a
founding member of the Nebraska Urological Association in 1964 and served
as its first president.
In 1999, Dr. Malashock and his wife, Sally, endowed the first chair
of Urologic Surgery in the College of Medicine at UNMC.