A graveside burial service for John Tinker, M.D., chair of the UNMC Department of Anesthesiology from 1997-2008, will be held today at 11 a.m. at Tabor Cemetery in Tabor, Iowa. Dr. Tinker died Feb. 17 at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City. He was 74.
“Throughout his life and his long career, Dr. Tinker touched many lives as a clinician, an academic leader, a mentor, and a friend,” said Steven Lisco, M.D., professor and chair of anesthesiology. “We will certainly miss him.”
At the time Dr. Tinker joined UNMC, very few physicians were opting to go into anesthesiology due to the high liability risks associated with the profession.
Despite this, Dr. Tinker was able to grow the department, largely due to his strong recruitment of women physicians.
When he retired in 2008, 17 women were on the anesthesiology faculty.
“I created an environment in which young women could have a career and a family,” Dr. Tinker said at his retirement. “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.”
One of the woman physicians who worked in anesthesiology, Sheila Ellis, M.D., remembers Dr. Tinker fondly.
“Three things mattered to him — patients, the people who worked for him, and the atmosphere we worked in,” 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.
“I feel grateful for the opportunity to work with Dr. Tinker. He was an amazing individual. We all benefited from his leadership and vision.”
A prolific researcher, 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. He co-authored two major textbooks and five other books in the anesthesiology field. He had 236 publications to his credit, including several articles in fishing magazines.
As part of his research, Dr. Tinker developed new anesthetic agents for use in the operating room. He held patents on five inventions in anesthesiology.
Good by dear friend….Dan McQuade
John was a remarkable gifted individual who touched so many throughout his career. I first met him in 1990 at a meeting in Miami Florida, where he gave a presentation on new medications for anesthesia. Our paths would cross at UNMC in 1997 when he arrived at UNMC, and I asked him to be the Medical Director of the Perfusion Education Program. He was instrumental in assisting us in moving it to the Masters Degree level, further emphasizing his commitment to advancing education.
John was such a fun person to be around. We held our faculty meetings sat a Sushi bar on Dodge, where we were treated to his latest 'Musky' fishing stories. He was a great mentor to many and a wonderful friend.
Al Stammers