The Tulane University-Ochsner Clinic Foundation Neurosurgery Program: 75 Years
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COMMENTARY Commentary: The Tulane University-Ochsner Clinic Foundation Neurosurgery Program: 75 Years of History, Including the Program’s Rebirth After Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/neurosurgery/article/84/6/E437/5475057 by Tulane University user on 01 September 2020 Katrina ORIGINS OF MEDICAL AND Ochsner Clinic Foundation ∗ ‡ Lora Kahn, MD SURGICAL TRAINING IN NEW Dr Rudolph Matas, world-renowned vascular Roger D. Smith, MD‡ ORLEANS surgeon and Chairman of Surgery at Tulane Aaron S. Dumont, MD∗ and Charity, graduated from the University of Cuong J. Bui, MD‡ Charity Hospital Louisiana in 1880. When he stepped down as Chairman in 1927, Dr Alton Ochsner took over, Edison P.Valle-Giler, MD‡ After New Orleans was founded in 1718, sailor Jean Louis died and bequeathed his fortune making New Orleans a popular medical desti- ∗Tulane Department of Neurosurgery,- in 1736 to establish a hospital for the poor nation. In 1942, after a political disagreement Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana; of New Orleans, which would be recognized with Governor Huey P. Long, Ochsner and 4 ‡Department of Neurosurgery, Ochsner other Tulane department heads left to form Health System, New Orleans, Louisiana for almost 300 yr as Charity Hospital. Father Phillipe of St. Louis Cathedral and sisters of an independent multispecialty clinic. Dr Dean Correspondence: the Ursuline Convent assumed responsibility its Echols, a neurosurgeon that Dr Ochsner, had Edison Valle-Giler, MD, management, and these “Daughters of Charity” recruited for Tulane, soon followed to join the Oshsner Health System, continued to provide care into the modern era. group at the new Ochsner Clinic. As the first Department of Neurosurgery, group practice in the Deep South, Ochsner 1514 Jefferson Highway, Charity was the oldest continually operating New Orleans, LA 70121. hospital in the United States and had served as was founded to provide a “one stop” medical E-mail: [email protected] the training Mecca of many medical generations. center for comprehensive care from a physician 2,3 Charity, “where the unusual occurs and miracles group. Received, August 21, 2018. Accepted, February 18, 2019. happen,” was known for providing second-to- none care for all patients while training the future Veteran Affairs Medical Center Copyright C 2019 by the leaders in medicine. The New Orleans Veterans Affairs (VA) Congress of Neurological Surgeons Medical Center began in 1946 as buildings Tulane University and the Medical School near Lake Pontchartrain that were modified after In 1834, 2 physicians from Philadelphia World Word II. The first formal VA hospital who had been shipwrecked arrived in New was opened in September 1952 as a 492- Orleans, where they recognized the magnitude bed hospital. That facility closed in 2005 after of pathology, thus opening the Medical College Hurricane Katrina left the hospital’s electrical of Louisiana.1 In 1847, the Legislature absorbed equipment submerged in water for weeks. The the medical school into the University of VA clinics remained open, but Tulane contracted Louisiana.1,2 In 1882, Paul Tulane, a wealthy to provide inpatient care for veterans. In June New Orleans businessman, donated a large tract 2006, Congress approved a new $1 billion insti- of land and monies to the Tulane Educational tution situated on 31 acres that partially opened Fund, who became the trustees of the Tulane in 2016 for outpatient and limited inpatient care. University. The legislature subsequently trans- This hospital is projected to serve over 70 000 ferred ownership of the University to the Admin- veterans. istrators of the Tulane Educational Fund, and Tulane University became a private institution. DEAN H. ECHOLS, MD, AND THE While the University was relocated in uptown NEUROSURICAL TRAINING New Orleans, the medical school remained PROGRAM downtown, adjacent to Charity. In 1972, the Tulane Board of Governors Dr Echols was born in Wisconsin in 1904 approved the construction of a 235-bed hospital and finished medical school at the University of across from Charity to serve as a private teaching Michigan in 1931. He completed a neurosur- hospital; it was completed in 1976. gical residency under Dr Max Peet. Dr Echols NEUROSURGERY VOLUME 84 | NUMBER 6 | JUNE 2019 | E437 KAHN ET AL. SPONSORSHIP OF THE NEUROSURGICAL PROGRAM MOVES TO TULANE In 1959, sponsorship of the program transferred to Tulane. The staff at Ochsner already enjoyed clinical appointments with Tulane’s Department of Surgery, and Dr Raeburn Llewellyn, who had finished his residency at Ochsner in 1952, was appointed Chairman of the Section of Neurosurgery. Program alumni Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/neurosurgery/article/84/6/E437/5475057 by Tulane University user on 01 September 2020 Charlie Wilson and Donald Richardson joined him. Dr Wilson subsequently transferred to the University of Kentucky before being appointed Neurosurgery Chairman at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) in 1968. In 1971, LSU New Orleans began a training program under Dr David Kline and began sending residents to Ochsner as well as Charity. Dr Llewellyn stepped down in 1979, and Dr Richardson became chairman. Dr Raeburn Llewellyn, native of Corbin, Kentucky, earned his undergraduate degree at the University of Alabama (UAB) and his medical degree at the University of Virginia (UVA). During his chairmanship, he converted the division into an independent department. Dr Llewellyn participated in the development of functional neurosurgery. He tried cerebellar pacemakers to treat intractable behavioral pathology,5-7 used early deep brain stimulation (DBS) electrodes to treat seizures,8 and described lobotomies for managing cancer pain.9 He advocated heparin for prophylaxis10 and was one of the first neurosurgeons interested in stroke (Figure 2).11-14 Donald Richardson, born in Vicksburg, Mississippi, quickly adopted New Orleans as his home, fully embracing the city’s culture and music through his saxophone skills. He studied at FIGURE 1. Dr Dean Echols. Courtesy of the Tulane-Ochsner Neurosurgery Program. Millsaps College before matriculating to Tulane Medical School. Dr Richardson was interested in functional and stereotactic neurosurgery and pain management. He developed an innovative comprehensive pain center in 1978. He published extensively about DBS and pain management even before DBS electrodes was befriended by Alton Ochsner, who invited him in 1937 to were commercially available.15-27 He continues to practice part practice to New Orleans. He supervised general surgery residents’ time (Figure 3). neurosurgical rotations. Dr Echols was a leader in the field; he was one of the 8 founders of the American Academy of Neurological Surgery (AANS) and its first president. Dr Echols was the first to submit a paper describing the ruptured lumbar intervertebral disc, though it was Role of the Ochsner Clinic in Neurosurgical Training not published. He had interests in spinal surgery, syringomyelia, From 1980 Until Hurricane Katrina tic douloureux, and promoted the use of tracheostomy to manage Dr Echols stepped down in 1972 and was succeeded by comatose patients. Dr Michael Debakey described Echols as “the Dr Edward S. Connolly. Dr Connolly was born in Omaha, smartest person I ever met.”4 He was also a remarkable gentleman; Nebraska, in 1934. After graduating from Stanford University in 1950, when Ochsner had financial difficulties, Echols lived on and Creighton Medical School, where his father was a professor credit rather than drawing a salary.1 of Surgery, Dr Connolly finished his residency at UCSF under Dr Echols is considered the fifth founder of the Ochsner Drs. Edwin Bouldrey and Charles Wilson. He practiced in San Clinic; he started the Alton Ochsner Clinic Foundation-Affiliated Francisco until coming to Ochsner, where he remained faculty Neurosurgery Residency in 1944. Furthermore, he was appointed for 32 yr. Due to recognition of the unwieldiness of covering 4 head of Graduate Medical Education (one of the first programs institutions with only 5 residents, Tulane withdrew the residency in the country). The 4-year program consisted of 2 yr at Ochsner, program from Ochsner in 1993; subsequently, Ochsner became 1 at the VA, and a final year at Charity (Figure 1). a primary site for the LSU New Orleans program (Figure 4). E438 | VOLUME 84 | NUMBER 6 | JUNE 2019 www.neurosurgery-online.com COMMENTARY Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/neurosurgery/article/84/6/E437/5475057 by Tulane University user on 01 September 2020 FIGURE 3. Dr Donald Richardson. Courtesy of the Tulane-Ochsner Neuro- surgery Program. FIGURE 2. Dr Raeburn Llewellyn. Courtesy of the Tulane-Ochsner Neurosurgery Program. ground on April 18, 2011 to replace Charity. The facility, a 424-bed hospital, was built with storm-resistant technology HURRICAINE KATRINA AND THE REBIRTH OF designed to withstand hurricanes, tornadoes, and nuclear and THE TULANE UNIVERSITY/OCHSNER CLINIC biological accidents. It opened in the summer of 2015, and FOUNDATION PARTNERSHIP FOR THE Tulane-Ochsner residents participate at UMCNO during their NEUROSURGERY PROGRAM trauma surgery rotations. With the support of leadership at both hospitals, the program’s The floodwaters of Hurricane Katrina closed Charity and name was changed to the Tulane University/Ochsner Clinic Tulane University Medical Center (TUMC) in 2005. Residents Foundation Neurosurgery Program in 2009, with sponsorship in the Tulane program were graciously accepted at different remaining at