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John Tinker, M.D. |
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Sheila Ellis, M.D. |
Sheila Ellis, M.D., associate professor, will serve as interim chairwoman, said John Gollan, M.D., Ph.D., dean of the College of Medicine. Dr. Ellis also serves as the department’s chief clinical director and as anesthesiology service chief at The Nebraska Medical Center.
Dr. Tinker looked back over the past decade and declared his greatest achievement was that he built and maintained faculty in a time when national shortages in the field threatened the department’s existence.
“Almost no one was going into the field. It was a major challenge to hire anesthesiologists,” he said.
Bidding wars for new recruits erupted.
“I noticed that women weren’t being hired locally and so I was able to fill my faculty positions with excellent women graduates who have made me proud,” he said.
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Now, 17 women are on the anesthesiology faculty.
“They kept the operating rooms open here and I created an environment in which young women could have a career and a family,” Dr. Tinker said. “I did this by showing respect for their needs as young mothers and getting out of their way.
“There are two keys to good leadership — hire the finest people and then clear any obstacles for them.”
Despite the shortage, which continued into 2004, Dr. Tinker increased the staff by 20 percent and the number of residents by 30 percent, and greatly expanded the number of sites for residents.
Not only has Dr. Tinker supported women in the field, but he also can be described as one of anesthesiology’s greatest advocates.
He is co-author of two major textbooks and five other books in the anesthesiology field, and has 236 publications to his credit, including several articles in fishing magazines.
Dr. Tinker’s areas of research were in coronary physiology and anesthetics, cardiopulmonary bypass physiology, anesthesia risk and risk management, operating room management, quality assessment and cost/efficacy in medicine, among others.
As part of his research, he developed new anesthetic agents for use in the operating room. He holds patents on five inventions in anesthesiology.
At UNMC, Dr. Tinker secured opportunities for faculty through the merger with what is now The Nebraska Medical Center, and negotiated a contract for faculty to cover the new Bellevue Medical Center that will open in 2010.
He also sent four faculty to the University of Utah for ongoing training in a new high technology procedure, transesophageal echocardiography, which provides a high quality sonograph of the heart.
Tara Brakke, M.D., assistant professor and chief of cardiac anesthesiology, Michael Fee, M.D., associate professor, Candice Montzingo, M.D., instructor, and Sasha Shillcutt, M.D., instructor, are going through this training.
“These faculty members will take the department to a whole new level in patient care,” Dr. Tinker said. “They are great people and they really care.”
Patient care topped the list of what’s important to Dr. Tinker, Dr. Ellis said.
“Three things mattered to him — patients, the people who worked for him, and the atmosphere we worked in,” she said.
He was invested in education and giving people chances, she said.
“His big question was always, ‘Can you do the job?’ He believed in people and he believed in providing a flexible work environment in which those people could flourish,” Dr. Ellis said.
“I feel grateful for the opportunity to work with Dr. Tinker. He’s such an amazing individual. We all benefited from his leadership and vision,” she said.
Employees weren’t the only ones who benefited from his experience. Medical students and residents would meet with him for hours, and after each counseling session they would leave with expert advice from one of the nation’s most senior anesthesiologists.
Dr. Tinker also prides himself in being able to spot talent. He cited Ben Boedeker, D.V.M., M.D., Ph.D., professor, as someone he was especially delighted to recruit.
“Ben is the research/academic bedrock of the department now,” Dr. Tinker said. “He has grants, military and industrial backing and plans for a new company to manufacture his inventions in intubation.”
A native of Cincinnati, Dr. Tinker received his bachelor’s degree, magna cum laude, from the University of Cincinnati College of Engineering in 1964. He was valedictorian at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine in 1968, where he received his medical degree, summa cum laude.
By 1972, he completed an internship and one year residency in surgery, and residency in anesthesiology at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, Harvard Medical School, in Boston.
In that time, he also completed training in pediatric and obstetric anesthesiology at Boston Children’s Hospital and Boston Lying-In Hospital, respectively. While in Boston, Dr. Tinker also was an instructor of anesthesiology at Harvard.
He served a two-year stint in the U.S. Army Medical Corps Reserves as a major, and also held the position of chief of anesthesia and operating services at the U.S. Army Hospital, Fort Campbell, Ky.
After serving in the military, Dr. Tinker moved to Rochester, Minn., to teach at the Mayo Medical School in 1974. At Mayo, he rose in the ranks from instructor to associate professor at the medical school and chief of cardiovascular anesthesiology at Mayo Clinic, a position he held between 1978 and 1983.
For the next 14 years, he was professor and director of anesthesia at the University of Iowa College of Medicine, before moving to Omaha in 1997 to become professor and chairman of anesthesiology at UNMC.
Dr. Gollan said that Dr. Tinker will continue as a consultant to the department and the college through this time of transition and will assist in residency interviews.
Much of his consulting will be conducted long distance from his new home in Spirit Lake, Iowa, where he will pursue his hobbies — fishing, writing and model sailing ship building.
“I can’t thank John enough for his enormous contributions to the college. I wish him every success for the future,” Dr. Gollan said.
What others are saying
“Dr. Tinker is a leader of national stature who took the department of anesthesia smoothly through a significant period of change with the merger of Clarkson and University Hospitals to create The Nebraska Medical Center. He was successful in supporting promotion and career advancement of many of his faculty.
“He led by consensus and he supported research as well as education and clinical care. The residency program thrived under his leadership and he influenced many students to pursue careers in anesthesia here as well as elsewhere. He was always good humored and pleasant to be around. He will be missed as chairman, but the good thing is that he is going to remain as an active member of the department.” — Myrna Newland, M.D., professor, anesthesiology
“John’s leadership was strong and decisive. But, at the same time, he was compassionate for the patients he served and also for the faculty and staff that he worked with and led. His constant focus on our UNMC missions — clinical care, education and research — was always at the heart of his decision-making and he was able to consider how his decisions affected all parties before he made them.
“Seeing ‘the big picture’ is not easy for leaders in academic medicine, but is imperative for them to be successful. John had that gift and ability, and the successful department he leaves behind is a testament to his dedication and efforts.” — Bryan Schwahn, administrative director, anesthesiology
“I have enjoyed working with Dr. Tinker the past decade. I have known John for nearly 30 years. He is a leader, a great academician, an outstanding anesthesiologist and an educator. He is a chairman that does things for the department and department members rather than to the department. He has helped many of us get promoted. He has always had great vision for the department. He is well respected by all at The Nebraska Medical Center. It has been a privilege and honor to have worked with him.” — Jim Chapin, M.D., professor, anesthesiology