October 27, 2006

In memoriam: John Remensnyder, MD

John Remensnyder, MD, a surgeon who served in various leadership roles at the MGH and Shriners Burns Hospital, died Oct. 14 at the age of 75 after a lengthy illness. Remensnyder held several posts at the MGH, including chief of the MGH Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, director of the MGH Operating Rooms and chief of staff at Shriners.

As chief of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Remensnyder focused a great deal of attention on the care of disfigured children, particularly those with severe burns. In the late 1980s, he led two Project HOPE-sponsored missions to Russia, one to treat nearly two dozen children burned in a liquefied gas explosion and another to bring back a group of children who had suffered severe injuries from a devastating earthquake in Armenia. These visits led him to become a visiting plastic surgeon for a year at Children's Hospital Number 9, one of the largest hospitals in the Moscow area.

As director of the MGH Operating Rooms, Remensnyder brought business discipline to the complicated issue of scheduling. He was interested in all surgical specialties, grasped the nuances of each field, spoke eloquently about each and advocated for specific needs.

A native of Plainfield, N.J., Remensnyder graduated from Wesleyan University and received his medical degree from Harvard Medical School. He was a surgical resident at the MGH and then went to Johns Hopkins University for his residency in Plastic Surgery. He was a member of the senior research staff at the Laboratory of Cardiovascular Physiology at the National Heart Institute, now the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. He served as chief of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at the MGH from 1973 to 1982, and became chief of staff at Shriners from 1980 to 1990. In 1991, he was named director of the Operating Rooms at the MGH, serving in this role until 1996. He retired in 2001.