Robert (Bobby) Ersek
1955
(the "before" picture)
2006
(the "after" picture)
Dr
and Mrs. Ersek
Robert (Bobby) Ersek
We moved to Aldan when I was three, where we attended Aldan Union Church. I went to kindergarten and junior high school at Aldan, played soccer and the drums in the band, and transferred to Lansdowne-Aldan with the class. I flunked 10th grade and inadvertently went to a trade school, where I learned to be a licensed barber. That enabled me to work my way through high school and graduate from Brown Prep in Philadelphia with a Senatorial Academic Scholarship to Penn State, University of Pennsylvania, and Temple. While there, I won a gold medal for diving and a second half-paid scholarship in gymnastics, and third place in a beard-growing contest.
That summer in Boston I got a part as an actor, singer, and dancer in a New York equity company. We did Can Can, Paint Your Wagon, and Girl Crazy. I transferred the second year, with a friend, to Charleston University where I met my wife, Gerry Avanelle Mullins, a music major. I was on the debate team and represented the state in the National Forensic Society meeting in Oklahoma and won first place in extemporaneous speaking (never being the shy one in the class). I could have done even better had I been prepared. I was elected president of the Pre-Med Society. I was accepted to Hahnemann Medical School in 1962. Gerry taught music at Eddystone High School. She had the choir, the marching band, and piano music instructions kindergarten through 12. She had several roles at the Colonial Players in Aldan.
I was president of the student body, president of the Student American Medical Association at Hahnemann, and vice president of the Student American Medical Association nationally. I was the editor of the year book and took, developed, and printed most of the pictures. I invented a specimen collection system there (U.S. Patent # 3,346,883), and I won a prize from the SAMA/Squibb National Contest for Scientific Exhibits for outlining for the first time the genetic inheritance pathway for congenital lymphedema (Milroy’s disease). I published several papers. At graduation in 1966,I was awarded the Edelson Prize for leadership.
A group of us got together and formed the original Hahnemann City Jug Band. For several years, we sang folk music, which was all the rage at that time. Gerry sang and played jug, I sang and played jaw harp and tambourine. We played the 2nd Fret in Philadelphia and the Bitter End in New York. Then we made a record. Our last big job was at the Palmer House in Chicago.
I was fortunate to land a coveted internship at University of Minnesota under Dr. Owen H. Wangensteen, then the number one academic surgeon in the world. During the seven years we were at Minnesota, I was enrolled in the PhD program as well as general surgery. I invented the world’s first intravascular stent (U.S. Patent # 3,657,744) which is the same stent that Dick Chaney and Mother Theresa and millions of others have. It has now become the most important, most successful medical device in the world, reaching over 4 billion in sales by 2004. In addition, I developed vessel loops that are in daily use in every vascular surgery hospital throughout the world, manufactured by 10 different companies currently.
Subsequently, I started a company, Med General, to build the intravascular stents, also the loops, and 23 other original devices, one of which was the RECAD (respiratory cardiac assist device, or Robert Ersek cardiac assist device depending on to whom I am speaking). Christian Bernard was on my Scientific Advisor board and an early share holder. I spent a month in South Africa with him.
I rewrote the laws for the State of Minnesota to enable live organ donation, including driver’s license designation. Thereafter it has since become the uniform Anatomical Gift Act currently enacted by 48 states. I also won the Scientific Publication of the Year Award.
I became a pilot (single engine, land and sea). Gerry was elected President of the Medical Wives Association at University of Minnesota. I had volunteered for the Army and was a lieutenant in the reserves, rose to captain, and then, when I entered the Air Force in 1972, I became a major and was stationed in Dover, Delaware, for two years. While in the Air Force, I had a top non-secret injury (lateral tibial plateau fracture in Vail, Colorado) which was repaired at Fitzsimmons-Army Hospital in Denver. I was MediVaced by C 9 Nightingale and helicopter.
I landed a plastic surgery residency at Tulane University in New Orleans and then opened a practice in Austin, Texas in 1978. The plastic surgeons of Austin formed a group called Austin Smiles. We go to third world countries to do plastic surgery, cleft lips and pallets, burn reconstruction and so forth. I have taken two of those trips with my daughter, Cynthia.
I was on the Board of the Ballet of Austin for about five years and Gerry was guest conductor for the Austin Symphony Orchestra for about 20 years. She was, and still is, on the Board of Directors of the symphony. While in Minnesota, we had two wonderful daughters: Cynthia, who has a BS in finance, and Stephanie, a BA, in Fine Arts. They were debutants in Austin, New York and Vienna, Austria.
I have 23 issued patents and another 20 pending. I have been invited to give seminars and conferences all over the world. In 1954 I was on American Bandstand, then on national TV debating with JFK. I have been on NBC’s Access Hollywood, MTV (about 20 times), ABC’s The View with Barbara Walters four times, the Tonight Show, Netscape News at CNN, Cosmetic Surgery Tonight, The Learning Channel, Paul Harvey, Ripley’s Believe it or Not, People Magazine, Discovery Health Channel, Glamour Magazine, the Wall Street Journal, Texas Monthly, all the local television and radio programs as well as newspapers, and the National Enquirer (March 27, 2006; page 25).
I have now been married to Gerry for 47 years. About three years ago she developed a terrible arrhythmia, which has been corrected, but she now has pulmonary fibrosis, a chronic disease for which there is no cure. Her pulmonary function decreases gradually over a period of time. She is currently rather stable. She is on oxygen 24/7 but we are able to travel and have pretty much fun. I expect to take her with me to the reunion in September.
We have a beautiful 400-acre ranch with 10 ponds on it. I have bass as long as your forearm and catfish as long as your leg. The ponds are full of fish. We throw them all back so that you can catch 10 fish on 12 casts. My six grandchildren love it. I have a clay pigeon course, where we shoot shotguns and teach gun safety.
Milestones:
- Graduating from Brown Prep, Charleston, Hahnemann (Drexel), University of Minnesota, Tulane, and University of Mississippi.
- Finding Gerry, my wonderful wife for 47 years.
- Having two lovely, accomplished daughters.
- Having six grandchildren from age 6 through 12.
- Starting nine public companies employing more than 1,000 families, over the years.
- Publishing more than 100 scientific peer review articles.
- Publishing eight books on medicine.
- Developing 23 patents
- Mentoring 22 students, who were accepted into medical school.
- Earning a first year pin, a second year wreath, and four bars for perfect attendance at Aldan Union Study School.
You can e-mail me at Personique@hotmail.com, call me at the office (512-459-6800) most any afternoon, or call me in the evenings on my cell phone at 512-970-7696. I would love to hear from everyone.