What's New June 19, 2015 Jack Cichon and Tim Fortescue

The University of Michigan Department of Urology

3875 Taubman Center, 1500 E. Medical Center Drive, SPC 5330, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-5330

Academic Office: (734) 232-4943 FAX: (734) 936-8037 urology.med.umich.edu

What's New June 19, 2015

Jack Cichon and Tim Fortescue

Michigan Urology Faculty, Fellows, Residents, and PAs

2 Items, 20 Minutes

I have heard many of you say that our health system would fail without

hard-working researchers, educators, and clinicians. However, most of

us often fail to acknowledge the essential role that our non-physician

administrators play. Without these personnel, our faculty, by default,

would become responsible for understanding how our health system

runs on a day-to-day basis. We would have to go to a lot more meetings

and development would not just be a "warm fuzzy¡± term. This week, we

hear from two key administrators in our department. Jack Cichon,

arguably our most senior, and Tim Fortescue, our newest administrator.

Despite being junior in our group, Tim comes with experience and I

believe that he will make a positive contribution to the philanthropy

position in the department.

As you will also read, Jack has been with us longer than most faculty

have been in the department. Jack has been an incredible ¡°go to¡±

person for everything ¡°Urology¡±. I personally have turned to him

frequently for advice and assistance. Jack has been personally

responsible for training most of the administrative staff in our

department and his cumulative knowledge of how our department and

health system runs is unique. Everyone knows that Jack will be retiring

after more than 20 years of service to our urology department but

most of you don¡¯t know Jack¡¯s ¡°Story¡±, which he tells below.

John T. Wei, MD, What¡¯s New Editor

PS - Jack's final duty will be to attend his retirement celebration on

July 31, 2015. I hope all of you will be able to join us for this event!

1.

Jack Cichon, Clinical Department Administrator

As I head into my last month as an employee of the Department

of Urology at UM, Dr. Bloom asked me to share some facts about

my background. I grew up in Grand Rapids, MI. The city is much

nicer now than I remember it back then. I remember building a

lot of forts in the woods, playing army, and playing baseball. I

collected stamps - including First Day editions, coins, and baseball

cards. I attended a Catholic grade school and high school. I

earned a BS degree from the UM and was promptly drafted after

graduation. Fortunately I was sent to Germany instead of

Vietnam. The war was winding down and President Nixon was

granting early releases to drafted personnel. I served 1 year, six

months and 29 days in the military but still was eligible for the

GI Bill. I stayed in Ann Arbor after being discharged and got a

job at St. Joe¡¯s. I was a respiratory therapist at St. Joe¡¯s where

I worked for 19 years, eventually becoming the Head of the

Cardiopulmonary Department. I met my wife, Caren, while working

at St. Joe¡¯s. She was a Surgical ICU nurse. We were married on

May 6, 1978 (5/6/78). You¡¯d think I would never forget that date.

I had a house in Ann Arbor prior to getting married. It was a bit

larger than the house I grew up in so I thought it would be our

home forever. After our third child was born we realized we

needed a larger house. When child #3 was born, child #1 was a

couple months from his 4th birthday. We were busy parents. The

kids are in their 30¡¯s now and we have 4 grandchildren with one

more on the way.

Caren and Jack

[Photo by Dr. Bloom]

Somewhere along the line I mistakenly told the kids that they

would probably have to leave the state to find jobs. And they did.

Our oldest son, Ben, is in Seattle, WA. He is graduating from

UW¡¯s P.A. program this summer. Our daughter, Kate, is a chemist

working for Merck in New Jersey. Our youngest son, Mike, is in

the Chicago area. He was always interested in theater and acting.

He has a job working for a small private company that tracks

actors¡¯ hours and benefits for payroll purposes. (Think of actors

as part-time employees.) We have a granddaughter, Sylvia, in

Seattle, a grandson, Anthony, and granddaughter, Ella, in New

Jersey and a granddaughter, CC, and a grandson, Bruce?, on the

way in Chicago.

Cichon family get-together

I earned an MBA thru the evening program at the U of M (the GI

Bill came in handy) and was looking for upward mobility. My start

date in the Section of Urology was 2/1/1993. Dr. Ed McGuire had

recently vacated the Section Head position (12/31/1992).

Apparently his departure also resulted in an opening in the

administrative ranks. Faculty members included Dr. Bloom, Dr.

Faerber, and Dr. Ohl. Dr. Park was a resident and Dr. Cheryl Lee

started that summer working in Dr. Bart Grossman¡¯s lab. Other

faculty members were Drs. Bart Grossman, Bill Belville, Rodney

Davis, John Konnak, Paul Sonda, and Michael Ritchey. Current

staff members who were already here when I arrived are Barb

Miller and Linda (Agius) Drnek.

I was fortunate to have a senior employee, Gary Wedemeyer,

take me under his wing and show me the in¡¯s and out¡¯s of the

Urology Section. Gary continued to give me advice over the

years. I would receive e-mails saying things like ¡°what the (#!*@!)

are you guys thinking¡± and other similar comments. I could always

count on Gary to share his objective opinions.

Dr. Bart Grossman was the Interim Section Head who hired me.

However, Dr. Joseph Oesterling became the new Section Head of

the Urology Section. He was young and very energetic. He was the

editor of the ¡°Gold¡± Journal, he traveled frequently and worked

long hours. I enjoyed working with him right up to the moment I

realized there was a problem.

That started a series of events which were very anxiety

producing. I was sure my days in Urology were numbered. As it

turned out, his days were numbered. He was here a little over 2

years. I had no idea what would happen next. I was expecting to

be transferred into a less visible area of the Health Center or

University.

Dr. Montie was appointed Section Head, replacing Dr. Oesterling.

Dr. Montie had experience running a department when he was

with the Cleveland Clinic. He did a very remarkable job rallying

the clinical and research faculty thru the distraction we had just

gone thru. Under his leadership we grew into a very successful

Department of Urology.

Unexpectedly, after Dr. Oesterling¡¯s departure, the ¡°happiness¡±

quotient in Urology took a quantum leap upwards. Everyone

seemed to be happy, very happy at the way things turned out. I

was very relieved that I could remain part of Urology.

Dr. Bloom was selected to be the Chair of the Department of

Urology in 2007 succeeding Dr. Montie. He became my 4th ¡°boss¡±

in Urology. Dr. Bloom had been working in the Medical School

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