Endowed training and education program will improve the lives of patients through enhanced spine surgery
Mayfield Education & Research Foundation to launch the David and Wendy Herche Lectureship in 2024
Patients needing spine surgery, and the neurosurgeons who treat them, will benefit from a lecture series and hands-on training featuring an internationally renowned spine surgeon and scholar – held every year in Greater Cincinnati. The Mayfield Education & Research Foundation will launch the program in 2024 with support from a donation from David and Wendy Herche.
The significant contribution and endowed education event for neurosurgeons helps the Foundation build on the expertise of the physicians of Mayfield Brain & Spine, Greater Cincinnati’s premier neurosurgery practice. David Herche, chairman of HBH Holdings, parent company of industrial equipment and services company Enerfab Inc., underwent surgery in October 2022 to remove a tumor compressing the spinal cord in his neck. Mayfield neurosurgeon Dr. William Tobler performed the surgery. Before the operation, Herche was suffering from weakness in his left arm and leg. Ten days after surgery, he was taking a walk outside, and today, he is getting in regular workouts.
“How do you show appreciation to a guy who changed your life?” Herche said. “I put all my trust in Dr. Tobler. I don’t think it could have gone any better.”
The Herche Lectureship will mirror the impact of the foundation’s Keller Lectureship, which focuses on skull base brain tumor surgery with an annual program and training on the latest clinical and research innovation. The Foundation enhances the skills of practicing neurosurgeons and neurosurgery residents at the annual Winter Clinics for Cranial and Spinal Surgery in Colorado. It also is expanding a clinical trials program and operates the Mayfield Surgical Innovation Center just off Interstate 71 in Norwood, a full-scale working laboratory for training programs.
“David and Wendy Herche share our vision of world-class neurosurgical care delivered right here in Greater Cincinnati,” said Dr. Tobler, who also is chairman of the Mayfield Foundation Board of Directors.
“The Herche Lectureship will sharpen the clinical skills of those currently in practice and those training to be neurosurgeons. Most importantly, it will feed innovation that will significantly improve the lives of patients with scoliosis, spinal tumors, spinal deformity and other disorders that require the most complex of spinal surgeries.”
The Herches support Dr. Tobler’s vision of a spine-focused lecture series and collaborative programming with the region’s premier health systems. Mayfield neurosurgeons operate at hospitals operated by TriHealth, Mercy Health, The Christ Hospital Health Network and St. Elizabeth Healthcare.
“Mayfield is an unbelievable resource for this community,” Herche said. “We believe that the level of care we received here matches any health system in the country.”
Contact:
Cliff Peale, Senior Writer/Media Relations Specialist
cpeale@mayfieldclinic.com
Office: 513-569-5236
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