George Zuidema, M.D., who transformed and modernized the Department of Surgery at Johns Hopkins during a 20-year tenure as its head, then returned to his native Michigan to revitalize the state university’s then troubled medical center, died of aplastic anemia July 6 in his hometown of Holland, Michigan. He was 92.
Beginning in 1964, Dr. Zuidema devised an innovative re-structuring of the Johns Hopkins surgery department in response to the intensifying pace of surgical specialization. His initiative led to the establishment of separate departments for neurosurgery, orthopaedics, otolaryngology, urology and general surgery, which has divisions for such specialties as cardiac surgery, pediatric surgery, gastrointestinal surgery and transplant surgery.
He also revised the residency program and enlarged the full-time staff by developing a professional fee program, ensuring the department’s growth and financial stability while maintaining good relations with its vitally important part-time staff.
Recruited in 1984 to return to Michigan as vice provost for medical affairs and professor of surgery at the University of Michigan — Ann Arbor, Dr. Zuidema settled a long-standing feud between the medical center and its teaching hospital, helped launch a successful, university run health maintenance organization, founded new centers for cancer, geriatrics and substance abuse, and oversaw a billion-dollar rebuilding of the medical center.
A determinedly low-profile but tireless leader, Dr. Zuidema was a 1953 graduate of the Johns Hopkins medical school and was appointed in 1964 to succeed the legendary Alfred Blalock, M.D., co-creator of the famous 1944 “blue baby” operation that launched cardiac surgery. His appointment was a choice that initially caused a firestorm in the academic surgery community, not just at Johns Hopkins but across the country.
Dr. Zuidema was born March 28, 1928, in a small western Michigan town where most of the residents were of Dutch descent, as was his family. His interest in medicine was solidified when he was 12 and saw a family physician promptly cure his sister’s fiancé of a dangerous strep throat with a new wonder drug called sulfanilamide.
His postgraduate training was interrupted by two years of service in the U.S. Air Force. Stationed at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, he conducted research in physiology that would become important to development of the American space program.
Dr. Zuidema’s wife of 65 years, Joan Houtman Zuidema, died in 2018. Their prematurely born son, Michael, died three days after his birth in 1959. Dr. Zuidema is survived by four children — Karen Voter, David Zuidema, Nancy Radcliffe and Sarah Kohl — and 10 grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.
A private family graveside service will be held at Pilgrim Home Cemetery in Michigan. No visitation is scheduled. A memorial service will be held at a later date.
Read the full obituary about George Zuidema here. It includes stories about the legendary Alfred Blalock and quotes from John Cameron, M.D., who succeeded Dr. Zuidema as surgery director, and the late Richard Ross, M.D., former dean of the school of medicine.