FEATURE
DR. GERALD
TEMES
KentuckyOne
Health Excellence
in Leadership
Award
D
r. Gerald Temes says he’s always taken an “arms around” approach
to patients: “You hug ‘em,” he explains, “if not physically, then emo-
tionally.” His chief of service during residency at the State University
of New York (Upstate Medical University) in Syracuse would stand
at the foot of the bed and gently hold a patient’s toes as he spoke with patient
and family. “It was the greatest technique,” Dr. Temes recalls, which he adopted
himself and then modeled for young doctors over a decades-long career as a
thoracic surgeon at the University of Louisville.
Dr. Temes has extended a similar passion for connection to the medical
and Jewish communities of Louisville. “He’s a listener,” says former Louisville
Mayor Jerry Abramson, who has known Dr. Temes for more than 40 years.
“He seeks facts,” Abramson said. “He constantly asks questions of people
with different perspectives.” Abramson says Temes’ confidence and compassion
enable him to lead organizations to the next level.
Dr. Temes’ portfolio of community leadership is extensive, including spear-
heading the development and then serving as founding chair of the Rudd
Heart and Lung Center, two terms on the Louisville Metro Board of Health,
and decades of service to the Jewish Community of Louisville.
But, he is most proud of the creation of the Jewish Heritage Fund for Ex-
cellence (JHFE) in 2012, as board chair of what was then Jewish Hospital
HealthCare Services. To help ensure the more than century-old legacy of Jewish
Hospital as it merged with Catholic Health Initiatives to form KentuckyOne
Health, Dr. Temes negotiated a plan to set aside funds for a foundation that
would support local medical research and education, and the Louisville Jewish
community.
The fund that began with $70 million five years ago has now grown to $100
million. In 2016 alone, with input from health care professionals, Jewish and
other community stakeholders, the JHFE provided almost $4 million in grants
to support University of Louisville School of Medicine research initiatives, the
Jewish Hospital & St. Mary’s Foundation, local health clinics, neighborhood and
domestic violence prevention and services, and heroin addiction treatment. In
the Jewish community, Holocaust and preschool education, senior nutrition,
cultural and artistic endeavors open to the Louisville community as a whole
have all been supported.
When Dr. Temes chaired the Jewish Hospital HealthCare Services board and
the current chair, Richard Schultz, was vice chair, the two called themselves
Batman and Robin, working to secure the organization’s role in creating a
healthier Commonwealth of Kentucky.
“Jerry taught me a lot about what the attributes are of a good leader,” he
says, like encouraging people to speak up and a willingness to broach difficult
subjects. Dr. Temes, Shultz says, “has the moral compass to do the right things
for the right reasons.”
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LOUISVILLE MEDICINE