DR. WHO?
revolutionized the way we see sick patients, the way we’re able to
pinpoint and monitor small areas of the brain. Everything’s a little
easier now in terms of technique.”
While completing his residency, Dr. Guarnaschelli met his wifeto-be, Marty, who was a neurosurgical nurse at the center. They
were friends for almost five years before they started dating, and
were married at the Wayfarers Chapel in Los Angeles. “You know
the Little Chapel in Vegas?” Dr. Guarnaschelli laughed, “It was
the same type of deal.” Today, John and Marty Guarnaschelli have
three children: Jessica, Dominic and Natalie, and three grandchildren.
While at the USC Medical Center, Dr. Guarnaschelli became acquainted with his second mentor, Dr. Theodore Kurze, considered
by many to be the father of microsurgery. “Thanks in part to Dr.
Kurze, that medical center had some of the first microsurgical labs
and care units.” It was through Dr. Kurze that Dr. Guarnaschelli
was recommended for an international surgical fellowship in Zurich, Switzerland, under the training of Dr. Mahmut Gazi Yasargil,
a renowned neurosurgeon and microvascular surgery pioneer.
“Dr. Yasargil spoke six languages, but everyone in Zurich spoke
many. They were shocked that an American physician wasn’t
multi-lingual. People selling peanuts on the street were multi-lingual,” he said. The Guarnaschelli’s lived in the dairy community,
Horgen, on the third floor of a restaurant for the year they spent
in Zurich.
“That year gave me a chance to step back and ask if I really wanted to get into a field like that. My initial plan was to come back to
Los Angeles following our time in Zurich but we decided instead
to move to Louisville.”
Dr. Guarnaschelli began his Louisville practice in 1974 and was
a founding partner of the Neurosurgical Group of Greater Louisville and Southern Indiana. In that time, he’s also served as a
faculty member at the UofL School of Medicine for 35 years and
as trustee for Jewish Healthcare.
“I practiced general neurosurgery with a focus on skull based tumors and vascular disease for my first 35 years of practice. The
last five years I basically did benign tumors and degenerative disc
disease,” he said.
Dr. Guarnaschelli recalled his last and perhaps most important
mentor, Dr. Andy Dzenitis, with whom he shared his practice for
20 years. “Dr. Dzenitis was six or seven years older and taught me
the practical ways of taking care of sick patients,” he said. “Mentors
are so important for a surgical career and I had the good fortune of
having four great mentors.”
Shortly after he arrived back in Louisville, Dr. Guarnaschelli took
over a responsibility that he thought would last just six months
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and instead turned out to be nearly 20 years, serving as the only
neurosurgeon for the Louisville Veteran Affairs Medical Center
until the early 90s. “I lived just down the street, so it was no problem for me to run over there and see patients. If there were complex issues, I’d take them to one of my other offices. And I had
some associates who helped out. But I enjoyed it! The VA patients
are terrific.” Dr. Guarnaschelli is, himself, a captain in the Army
from 10 years spent in the Army Reserves.
“When a patient and their family comes to see you, a neurosurgeon, it might be the most important day of their life. It’s really an
honor to be asked to do that, to be a neurosurgeon. It’s a big deal.
All of a sudden, you set up a relationship with a person that will
last for years.”
Today, Dr. Guarnaschelli is retired but serves as a neurological
consultant for Norton Healthcare. Dr. Guarnaschelli took the
skills he’d learned from mentors throughout the world and applied
them to his own life, using those abilities to save his patients and
contribute to the Louisville medical community we know today.
Aaron Burch is the communications specialist for the Greater Louisville Medical Society.
Dr. John Guarnaschelli with his grandchildren: Sylvie, Ruby and Alice.