{"id":3484,"date":"2016-07-22T11:23:07","date_gmt":"2016-07-22T16:23:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/for-wisconsin\/?post_type=campus_story&p=3484"},"modified":"2016-07-22T14:14:15","modified_gmt":"2016-07-22T19:14:15","slug":"uw-green-bay-college-kid-makes-good-top-doctor-returns-to-serve-regions-children","status":"publish","type":"campus_story","link":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/story\/uw-green-bay-college-kid-makes-good-top-doctor-returns-to-serve-regions-children\/","title":{"rendered":"UW-Green Bay college kid makes good: Top doctor returns to serve region\u2019s children"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Tina<\/a>Ask Dr. Tina Sauerhammer about the seminal moments in her life, and the answer may surprise you.<\/p>\n

She won\u2019t, as one might rightly expect, start with being part of the surgical team that performed the first-ever full face transplant in the United States in 2011. She\u2019ll gloss over the fact that she entered college at 14, graduated at 18 and completed medical school at just 22. She might mention her tenure as Miss Wisconsin, but only because it allowed her to advocate for organ donation, a cause about which she remains deeply and personally passionate. Fortuitous opportunities, she\u2019ll say. Right place, right time.<\/p>\n

What she will point to is her May 2011 UW-Green Bay commencement speech, given just weeks after the groundbreaking transplant surgery at Boston\u2019s Brigham and Women\u2019s Hospital.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would say that one of the pinnacles of everything, was coming back to give that speech,\u201d says Sauerhammer. \u201cEven more so than the face transplant, because it felt like everything I had accomplished up to that point came full circle.\u201d<\/p>\n

If coming back to speak at commencement was one highlight, coming back for good may just be another \u2014 and not just for Sauerhammer. In June, Prevea Health announced it had hired her to become the first fellowship-trained pediatric plastic and reconstructive surgeon based in Northeastern Wisconsin. She began her practice at the end of September.<\/p>\n

In its own way, it\u2019s a notable free-agent signing for Titletown and one of its other signature industries, health care. Sauerhammer represents a welcome influx of talent, and she will build her fan base one family, one young patient at a time. She\u2019s thrilled to be home \u2014 and eager to start making a difference.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s kind of indescribable,\u201d says Sauerhammer, who most recently was practicing in Washington, D.C. \u201cI see parents who find out their child has a cleft lip and there\u2019s so much that\u2019s unknown for them. One of the most rewarding things is to be able to reassure parents and educate them about what we can do to improve their child\u2019s quality of life.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd their son or daughter will go on to live a normal life, just like any other child. \u2026 Once you operate on a child, they\u2019re your patient for life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sauerhammer\u2019s pediatric plastic surgery work runs the gamut from repairing cleft lips and palates to working on dog bites, fixing congenital deformities, working with burn injuries, removing extra digits and much more. Having her back home in Green Bay is a tremendous boon for the area, says Dr. Ashok Rai, Prevea Health President and CEO.<\/p>\n

\u201cDr. Sauerhammer is just one of a handful of physicians in the state to be as skilled as she is in the area of pediatric, plastic reconstructive surgery,\u201d Rai observes. \u201cPrevea is very fortunate that she has decided to come back home to Green Bay and join a health care organization that truly cares for this town.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018She fit in perfectly\u2019<\/strong>
\nIt\u2019s a town Sauerhammer knows well, having been born and raised in Green Bay with a Midwest work ethic she still credits \u2014 along with her hardworking parents \u2014 with instilling the drive that helped her get where she is today. Sauerhammer attended Montessori school and completed her high school coursework at 14. From there, her options were to go on to regular high school, attend a preparatory school out east or head right to college. Knowing she wanted to be a doctor, and knowing how much schooling that would take, she chose the third option \u2014 attending UW-Green Bay would allow her to live at home while she navigated life as the University\u2019s youngest-ever undergrad.<\/p>\n

Sauerhammer\u2019s enrollment raised some eyebrows \u2014 even some of her friends, she said, questioned her decision and told her she wouldn\u2019t make it. The University asked Associate Prof. Donna Ritch \u2014 now the Associate Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences \u2014 to keep an eye on Sauerhammer, and make sure she was adjusting OK.<\/p>\n

Sitting in her office in Theatre Hall, Ritch recalls checking in on Sauerhammer while she was taking a summer biology course before her first full semester.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe and the other students were out in the hall \u2014 they must have had a break in lab,\u201d Ritch said. \u201cAnd she was just talking away to them. I went back to my office and said \u2018there\u2019s no worries there.\u2019 She fit in. She fit in perfectly.\u201d<\/p>\n

That initial interaction would form the basis for a mentorship and friendship that persists today. It would be a few years before Sauerhammer had Ritch as a professor, and by that point the pair had become close friends.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s always there for you, motivating you and helping you attain your goals,\u201d Sauerhammer said. \u201cShe was awesome as a professor, but whenever I think about Dr. Ritch \u2014 she was my mentor and pre-med adviser.<\/p>\n

I wouldn\u2019t be where I am today without her.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nor, Sauerhammer said, would she be where she is without UW-Green Bay. The moderate campus size was just right for a teenager who had never even attended a traditional high school, and the relationships she formed \u2014 especially with Ritch, but also with other professors \u2014 are, for her, truly what sets the University apart.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of my professors\u2026 I probably remember every single one of my professors\u2019 names to this day,\u201d she said, \u201cand I don\u2019t think a lot of people can say that about their school. I always
\nreference Dr. Ritch because we have such a special relationship, but that being said, every single teacher has touched me or molded me in some way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sauerhammer\u2019s age was never an issue, Ritch recalls \u2014 many people knew how young she was, but with her academic and social skills she was, in many ways, just like any other student. That is, until it came time to take her driver\u2019s test.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had a Physics quiz,\u201d Sauerhammer says, laughing. \u201cI had to ask Dr. Fischbach if I could be excused from a Physics quiz. And he said, \u2018sure \u2014 but just don\u2019t take a left turn.\u2019 And I passed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Heartbreaking loss \u2026 and a new opportunity<\/strong>
\nUW-Green Bay\u2019s youngest graduate ever in 1999, Sauerhammer enrolled in medical school at UW-Madison. On commencement day four years later, she again claimed the \u201cyoungest ever\u201d distinction, this time at a place with a 100-year tradition.<\/p>\n

Always focused on her goal of becoming a doctor and working with children, she did experience one change of heart. She was following a track toward general pediatrics until a surgery rotation during her third year of med school changed her mind. Sauerhammer started a general surgery residency that included a rotation in plastic surgery.<\/p>\n

\u201cI saw my first cleft lip repair and I just completely fell in love with it,\u201d she said. \u201cI got to work with kids and do surgery, but these kids were for the most part healthy. And it was very technical \u2014 but the other part about pediatric plastic surgery that I loved is that not only can you help children locally, but you can go on mission trips and provide these services to children in other countries.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sauerhammer was in Madison for about a decade before departing for the east coast. And although she had happily discovered her passion by the time she left Wisconsin, the journey was not without its challenges. When she was a fourth-year medical student, her father, Randy, died from complications of a rare autoimmune illness called Wegener\u2019s disease. He was on the wait list for a kidney transplant that could have saved his life.<\/p>\n

She wanted to quit \u2014 but her mother, Oki, insisted she stay the course. It\u2019s what her father would have wanted, she said. So Sauerhammer finished medical school \u2014 but wasn\u2019t yet emotionally ready to continue with her training.<\/p>\n

So she took a year off before starting her residency in general surgery \u2014 and won the title of Miss Wisconsin 2003.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy main goal that entire year was to promote organ and tissue donation,\u201d she said, \u201cso that\u2019s what led me to Miss Wisconsin. But that year, I grew as a person. It\u2019s made me a better physician, being able to interact with people from all walks of life, and to promote something that I felt very strongly about.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd that has really opened so many doors, too. All of that, I attribute to my father.\u201d<\/p>\n

A community \u2018that means so much to me\u2019<\/strong>
\nSauerhammer relished her time living and working out east, but soon, she found home was calling \u2014 both personally and professionally.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel it is important to leave and get those experiences and training,\u201d she said, \u201cand the best thing I can do is bring everything that I\u2019ve learned back home, and share it with the community that means so much to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

She\u2019s had a great time getting reacquainted with that community, spending time with her mom, hitting up the Green Bay Farmer\u2019s Market, taking in a Green Bay Packers game \u2014 and even, she says with a smile, running into people who were friends with her dad. When she sat down in her office for a September interview with UW-Green Bay\u2019s Inside magazine, she was still in the process of unpacking \u2014 and more nervous about navigating the building and learning the computer system than starting her practice and meeting her first patients. For that, she couldn\u2019t wait.<\/p>\n

Sauerhammer\u2019s affable manner comes through immediately \u2014 despite her accomplishments, she is humble and friendly. Again, Randy and Oki get the credit.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy dad worked at a paper mill; my mom is a seamstress,\u201d she said. \u201cI didn\u2019t grow up with much but what little my parents had, they always wanted to make sure I had the best education.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy mom always tells me, \u2018dreams are not free.\u2019 You can have goals, but you have to work hard to achieve those goals. And with my Green Bay upbringing \u2014 that\u2019s why I am the way I am. I wasn\u2019t given everything and I appreciate the hard work it takes to achieve those goals.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her goal now? To give back \u2014 and to ensure that for the first time, children in Northeastern Wisconsin have access to the kind of care she can provide. And to reconnect with the places that gave Sauerhammer her start.<\/p>\n

\u201cI owe everything I have to this day (to) my education at UWGB,\u201d she said. \u201cI literally would not be where I am today without it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI owe so much \u2014 and I just want to give back, not only to the community of Green Bay, but also to UWGB.\u201d \u2014 Kelly Moore<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ask Dr. Tina Sauerhammer about the seminal moments in her life, and the answer may surprise you. She won\u2019t, as one might rightly expect, start with being part of the surgical team that performed the first-ever full face transplant in the United States in 2011. She\u2019ll gloss over the fact that she entered college at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":3574,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","institution":[111],"story_category":[],"class_list":["post-3484","campus_story","type-campus_story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","institution-uw-green-bay"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/campus_story\/3484","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/campus_story"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/campus_story"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3484"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3574"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"institution","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/institution?post=3484"},{"taxonomy":"story_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/story_category?post=3484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}