Dr. Joseph Maroon honored with UPMC Clinician of Courage Award

Neurosurgeon, author and long-time Sewickley resident Dr. Joseph Maroon was presented with the 2020 UPMC Clinician of Courage Award through a virtual ceremony on Aug. 24.

Given as a part of the annual Dr. Loren Roth Quality and Patient Safety Awards, the distinction is meant to honor a UPMC physician who is thriving and/or serving as a leader within their community after having faced and overcome significant adversity.

Maroon is a world-renowned neurosurgeon with nearly 40 years of experience. He was the first team neurosurgeon in the NFL, joining the Pittsburgh Steelers’ staff in 1980. He co-created the ImPACT concussion test, which is now considered the standard of care across all major sports. He’s authored numerous scientific articles, books and book chapters.

But, if you ask Maroon why he was honored for courage, he’ll talk to you about flipping burgers at a West Virginia truck stop.

In the late 1970s, Maroon was nearly 40 years old and the chief of neurosurgery at what is now UPMC Presbyterian Hospital. His marriage broke up and his father passed away in the course of a week. That set of events caused Maroon to quit neurosurgery, move into his mother’s Dallas Pike, W.Va., farmhouse and handle the heavily mortgaged truck stop left behind by his late father.

“One day I was doing brain surgery at Pitt, and the next week I was flipping hamburgers and filling up 18-wheelers at a truck stop,” Maroon said. “I’m in this farmhouse, at a truck stop, and I’m wondering, ‘How did I get here?’ I just had no idea how to get out.”

Maroon battled depression and 20 extra pounds until a business acquaintance invited him for a run at the Tridelphia, W.Va., High School track.

Four times around was all he could manage, but that night was the first he’d slept in months. He ran five laps the next day. Then six after that.

Then, he drew a square.

In high school, Maroon received a leadership award, and the prize was William Danforth’s book “I Dare You!” — a book he revisited while living in West Virginia. In one exercise, the book challenges readers to write the words work, family/social, spirituality and physical in four imaginary corners and then draw lines to represent how present those elements are in one’s life, ideally creating a square.

“Mine was a flat-line EKG,” said Maroon. “It was all work. It was the epitome of burnout. There was nothing else in my life.”

Over the course of a year, Maroon reexamined his diet, reconnected with his family and picked up a Bible in an effort to redraw his square. He also added swimming and biking to his running habit.

To date, Maroon has completed 70 Olympic-distance triathlons, eight international Ironman triathlons and numerous marathons.

Maroon credits that West Virginia career intermission with saving his life and “hugely” impacting his medical practice.

“Having gone through that gives me an entirely different perspective and approach to people with disabilities, with pain, who are hurt,” said Maroon, who is now known to favor holistic treatments — like fish and CBD oils — when appropriate.

When Maroon put down his burger-flipping spatula, the vigor with which he returned to medicine was unmistakable.

He was reinstated at Presbyterian Hospital as chief of neurosurgery. He joined the Pittsburgh Steelers’ staff. Inspired by his experience with professional sports, he went on to co-develop the ImPACT concussion test in the early 1990s.

“Dr. Maroon has been an important part of our organization for decades and we are thrilled he is being recognized with the 2020 UPMC Loren Roth Clinician of Courage Award for his continued success and leadership as a world-renowned neurosurgeon,” said Steelers president Art Rooney II.

For Tami Minnier, chief quality officer for UPMC and member of the Clinician of Courage selection board, Maroon “stood out like nobody’s business.”

“I firmly believe that many of the changes we’ve been able to see in the field of neurotrauma and sports-related injuries have come from Dr. Maroon’s courage to challenge the status quo,” Minnier said, referencing how ImPACT testing brought attention to sports-related concussions.

“He’s real. He cares. He’s put so many good practices in place, and we’ve just been fortunate to have him and recognize him.”

Going forward, the honor will be known as the Joseph C. Maroon Physician of Courage Award and will be presented annually by Maroon himself.

Despite this accolade or any other, Maroon grounds himself in the memory of four laps around a high school track and Danforth’s square. His 2017 book, “Square One: A Simple Guide to a Balanced Life,” credits the Danforth book for its inspiration.

“Every day now, I think of my square and how and when I am going to touch each side.”

Abby Mackey is a Tribune-Review contributing writer. You can contact Abby at abbyrose.mackey@gmail.com or via Twitter.