Steelers neurosurgeon Dr. Joseph Maroon honored with prestigious award
As Dr. Joseph Maroon stood in Ellis Island’s Great Hall in New York City, his thoughts went to his grandparents, who walked the same location 125 years earlier when they ventured to America from Poland and Lebanon.
Maroon, of Sewickley, along with other leaders in business, education, entertainment, public service, philanthropy and the defense of the United States, was honored with the Ellis Island Medal of Honor in May during a black-tie gala.
“This was the highest honor and recognition ever for me, especially given the fact that my grandparents came to this country and were given citizenship 125 years ago in the same Great Hall where this ceremony was held,” Maroon said. “The ‘circle’ was completed.”
Maroon has had quite the circle in his life.
The neurosurgeon, triathlete and Pittsburgh Steelers physician summited Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania in 2014, the highest free-standing mountain in the world, with a group of differently abled athletes and was inspired by their perseverance.
But his path getting there took some twists and turns. He is now 85, and back in his early 40s, his work had become his life. He needed to find balance, an awakening he talks about in his latest book, “Square One – A Simple Guide to a Balanced Life.”
“The climbers who ascended Mount Kilimanjaro with me recognized their adversities and overcame them in order to succeed,” Maroon said. “That, simply stated, is what we must all do when we face mountains, whether they are literal or metaphorical.”
Moving mountains
In the book, Maroon addresses overcoming those “mountains” in his early 40s. He experienced depression and insomnia and a low sense of personal accomplishment — symptoms that often are traced back to their root cause — burnout. Burnout occurs in over 50% of physicians and 30-40% of people in the general population, Maroon said.
Finding better balance is the single most effective way to prevent burnout, Maroon said. He began to think about that after reading “I Dare You,” by Ralston Purina Co. owner William Danforth and talking with colleagues.
Maroon was operating on a patient with a brain tumor who had little chance of survival in his position as chief of neurosurgery at the then Presbyterian University Hospital in Oakland.
Maroon came home that evening to an empty house and realized his family was gone.
“I was devastated,” he said.
A few weeks later, Maroon panicked while operating. He asked a colleague for help. The patient survived, but Maroon slid to the floor in tears. Shortly after that, a call came in about his dad, who had died of a massive heart attack at age 60.
While in Ohio for the funeral in early 1979, Maroon discovered Danforth’s book on a shelf in his childhood bedroom.
Maroon went home to his mother and took over his father’s Wheeling, W.Va., business, the Dallas Truck Stop.
”I could no longer operate because of anxiety and depression, and I literally quit neurosurgery for a year,” Maroon said. “I was filling up 18-wheelers and flipping hamburgers at a truck stop.”
Taking the first step
His first steps to climbing this newest mountain challenge began in Wheeling. Banker Don Jebbia, who held the mortgage of the truck stop, invited Maroon for a run. Maroon grabbed old tennis shoes, surgical scrubs and a sweatshirt. While running, he realized exercise could make him feel better. He bought a bike and learned a freestyle stroke in the swimming pool at the local YMCA.
Maroon competed in his first triathlon – running, cycling and swimming over various distances — in 1982 and went on to complete eight Ironman races, which consist of a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bicycle ride and a 26.2-mile run. Feeling a little more balanced, Maroon returned to Pittsburgh in 1982. He continued his work as a consultant to the Pittsburgh Steelers football team, which had begun in 1976. Maroon was hired as a full-time team neurosurgeon for the team, the first in the National Football League, in 1983.
Four-time Super Bowl Champion and Hall of Fame Steelers coach Chuck Noll questioned Maroon’s decision to keep a player off the field for three weeks because of a concussion.
“Coach Noll was way ahead of his time,” Maroon said. “He said to me, ‘What data do you have?’”
The data
Maroon got the data by co-developing the ImPACT test with Dr. Mark Lovell and Dr. Micheal Collins, which became the only Food and Drug Administration-approved test for concussion evaluation. The name stands for immediate post-concussion assessment and cognitive testing. It has transformed how brain injuries are managed. Doctors use it as a tool to help manage concussions.
The test has been used over 25 million times to obtain baseline and post-concussion studies on individuals suffering a traumatic brain injury.
Maroon said there is pressure in making decisions about an athlete’s health. He said the Steelers owners, the Rooney family, and coaches have always supported his decisions because a player’s well-being is of top concern. Maroon recalled telling then 30-year-old Merril Hoge, a former Steelers and Chicago Bears running back, there would be long-term damage if he got another concussion.
Being told you might not ever play football again was tough to hear, said Hoge, who has become an advocate for Maroon’s work.
“Joe is a humble guy and what separates him from others is his overall integrity,” Hoge said.
Concussion discussions arose after the 2015 movie “Concussion” about the brain disease — chronic traumatic encephalopathy, known as CTE — was released. Hoge said there were inaccuracies in that film and that led him to collaborate with board-certified forensic neuropathologist Dr. Peter Cummings to write “Brainwashed,” which on Hoge’s website said “explores the hidden agendas and misinformation about CTE.”
Hoge said it is crucial to have all of the scientific information before making any decision. Maroon said he agrees with Hoge that the movie has inaccuracies, but that the one good thing the film did was bring attention to concussions.
The Concussion Center at UPMC , which sees 7,000 new patients annually, was founded by Maroon and the late Dr. Freddi Fu. Collins leads it. Maroon continues to be a consultant, and while he no longer operates, he still sees patients.
Mind and body
He discusses with patients that the health of the mind and body are interconnected.
“One of the highest times of anxiety is when a patient’s lying on a gurney and about to get their brain operated on,” Maroon said. “I will ask them, ‘Do you believe in a higher power?’ And if so, I’ll take their hand and say, ‘Today is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.’ And with his help, get you back to your family.”
Family is part of Maroon’s focus in his book. He urges people to draw four lines, top, right, bottom and left — each represents work, family, spiritual and physical. When you place the four lines together, they should equal a square — not just one long line of work, like his used to be. That was when he reached a low point, said Maroon, who has four adult daughters and one grandchild.
He was thinking of them and his family as he stood inside Ellis Island’s Great Hall. Maroon said it meant a lot to receive the same honor that had also been given to U.S. Presidents Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton and Joe Biden; Supreme Court justices William Rehnquist and Sandra Day O’Connor; Nobel Prize laureates Elie Wiesel and Malala Yousafzai; philanthropists David and Susan Rockefeller; and sports icon Muhammad Ali.
“These honorees, representing a wide range of disciplines, exemplify the extraordinary potential of a nation built on freedom and opportunity,” said Ellis Island Honors Society chairman Nasser J. Kazeminy in a statement.
For Maroon, the Ellis Island award brought him back on top of the second mountain. He referenced David Brooks’ “The Second Mountain: The Quest for a Moral Life.”
“The first mountain we climb is often times ego-driven, for position, title and validation,” Maroon said. “And then some kind of a crisis occurs, like what happened to me and happens to many people, and you realize it’s really not about me. It’s when we give of ourselves that we truly give. So then, the second mountain we climb is giving back. That is what I’ve been doing for the last 40 years, in terms of research and helping others. And not expecting anything in return. A young doctor said, ‘You took a brain tumor out of my mother 20 years ago and I decided to go into medicine and now I’m a general surgeon.’ That is cool.”
JoAnne Klimovich Harrop is a TribLive reporter covering the region's diverse culinary scene and unique homes. She writes features about interesting people. The Edward R. Murrow award-winning journalist began her career as a sports reporter. She has been with the Trib for 26 years and is the author of "A Daughter's Promise." She can be reached at jharrop@triblive.com.
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