Renowned burn surgeon leaves Toronto for Hamilton to reboot General’s burn trauma unit, develop ‘skin printing’ stem cell tech

Even at six or seven years old, growing up in Germany, he already knew he wanted to be a surgeon, just like his father's best friend.

But it wasn't until his 30s, based at a hospital burn unit on the Gulf Coast of Texas, treating victims of mass casualty explosions and fires, that Dr. Marc Jeschke found his calling.

A big burn patient is always the sickest in the hospital, he is trying to die on you every single day, for weeks," said Jeschke. That was the fascination, with the complexity, the questions that go unanswered (in burn cases) ... And then how to reconstruct, provide quality of life, that interaction with the patient is a journey that is forever."

The burn trauma surgeon and scientist is moving to Hamilton from Toronto to become medical director of the burn unit at the General Hospital on Barton Street East, and continue his research into technology that will print" new skin from stem cells to heal a patient's wounds.

McMaster University recently landed Jeschke, who left posts at Sunnybrook Hospital and the University of Toronto, to become a professor of surgery. He was also named vice-president of research at Hamilton Health Sciences (HHS), and brings nearly his entire lab team of 20 with him.

His lab developed a hand-held 3D stem cell-based skin printer that he said has effectively treated burn wounds on mice, and after improving the machine, also on pigs, but it has not been used on humans.

Jeschke is convinced it will ultimately be tested in clinical trials after coming close to crossing that threshold before he left Toronto.

I feel deep down it will be effective, with the data we have seen, and we have so much experience with it now. We will be able to create skin for patients."

He said he left Toronto in part because of the collegial and intimate atmosphere" he discovered at HHS and McMaster.

Jeschke started researching stem cell-based skin regeneration technology about 15 years ago. Applying skin created from a patient's own stem cells to treat a burn wound works far better than a skin graft, he said, because the amount of new skin is unlimited, rehabilitation time is shorter, and there is no scarring.

In addition, he said new research will focus on treating patients over 70, for whom severe burn injuries are most fatal. And he said part of his mission is restoring the national reputation once held by the General's burn trauma unit (BTU), that is one of just two burn centres in Ontario.

We are thrilled to welcome Dr. Jeschke, a world-renowned expert in translational research (bridging the gap between science and clinical treatment) and burn care," said Dr. Michael Stacey, HHS chief medical executive. Stacey told The Spectator that the BTU medical director role is new and will ensure that there is a dedicated focus on the long-term growth and sustainability of the program."

Last year, The Spectator reported that an under-resourced BTU transferred its sickest patients to Sunnybrook's burn program, because it was limiting treatment to patients with less than 20 per cent burns to the body.

There is a need for this program, Hamilton has to have this for its catchment area to be able to treat big burns," said Jeschke. We will build it back up."

Jeschke and his wife are looking for a home in the city. They have four grown kids, and also a dog that he said was originally from nearby Grimsby - perhaps a sign, he said, that he was destined for Hamilton.

Jon Wells is a feature writer at The Spectator. jwells@thespec.com