John M. Tew, Jr.
1998, Seattle, WA
John McLellan Tew, Jr., MD, FACS was born and raised on a farm in eastern North Carolina. He graduated from Campbell and Wake Forest Universities Cum Laude in 1957. He attended Bowman Gray School of medicine of Wake Forest University and graduated AOA in 1961.
Dr. Tew studied general surgery for two years at Cornell-New York Hospital and Peter Bent Brigham, where he worked with Dr. Francis Moore in transplantation research. He was a fellow in neuro-physiology with Dr. Cho Lu Li at the National Institute of health NINCDS where they developed intracellular recordings in the human cerebral cortex and thalamus. This was also an important personal time because John met Susan Smyth and they were later married in Boston in 1966.
In 1965, Dr. Tew returned to Boston for a research fellowship and neurosurgical residency at the Massachusetts General Hospital. Working with Drs. Sweet, Kjelberg and Ballantine, Dr. Tew brought the technique for micro-electrode recording to the stereotaxic operating room. In 1967, Dr. Tew spent a year at the Boston Children's Hospital with Dr. Donald Matson, where he learned pediatric neurological surgery. During the final years of residency with Dr. Robert Ojemann, micro-neurosurgery was being born. The second Van Wagenen Fellowship was awarded to Dr. Tew to study with Professor Gazi Yasargril in Zurich. The experience was career focusing and later led to the development of the Cincinnati and the Mayfield Clinic as a center for education and application of micro-neurosurgery.
In Cincinnati, Dr. Tew came under the wise mentorship of Dr. Frank Mayfield, who taught him humility, patience, and instilled a heightened sense of community service. With Drs. Mayfield, Dunsker and other associates, a community based neurosurgical program was developed. The program became outstanding and was merged with the University of Cincinnati in 1983 to integrate the best aspects of each institution into a top academic program. In 1992, Dr. Tew services were later integrated into The Neuroscience Institute, which was inaugurated in 1998 with Dr. Tew as Medical Director. The Neuroscience Institute is a nationally recognized center for treatment, education and research in neurological disorders. It is the result of mutual respect, coordination and excellence in research, education and clinical care by the University of Cincinnati departments.
Dr. Tew is especially proud of the residents and fellows who have been educated in Cincinnati since 1969. More than 150 in number, today they are teaching and practicing neurological surgery in the major clinics and schools of medicine throughout the United States and many other countries.
Dr. Tew has served as president of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons and the Academy of Neurological Surgeons. He has received recognition from Campbell University (honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters, 1985) and from Wake Forest University (Distinguished Alumni Award, 1991). As a member of the Cincinnati Community, he has served the Board of Trustees of Xavier University for nine years and received the Xavier leadership medallion in 1998. He received the Papal Pro Ecclesia Et Pontifica Medal from Pope John Paul 11, delivered by Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk in 1990, and the Distinguished Service Citation from the National Conference of Christians and Jews in 1995.
Dr. Tew is indebted to the community of Cincinnati, which has nurtured his family, the College of Medicine and the Mayfield Clinic. He maintains a very active involvement in community affairs, business and religious organizations. He continues a very active practice, is interested in constant change, whether in technology, patient care or economics of medical practice. He is one of neurosurgery's leaders in search of new concepts of facial pain, cerebrovascular disease, brain tumors and disorders of the spine. His bibliography includes more than 250 publications, including many in history and biography, which were written as a member of The Literary Club of Cincinnati.