Lifetime achievement

Thursday, September 01, 2016 12:28 PM

W. George Shanks, MD, honored for outstanding career

by Kate Alfano, CMS Communications Coordinator

Past CMS president W. George Shanks, MD, will be recognized as the 2016 Saccomanno Lifetime Achievement recipient by St. Mary’s Hospital Foundation at the St. Mary’s Ball on Sept. 24. The award honors an outstanding retired physician. The award committee specifically recognizes Shanks’ philanthropic and social contributions to St. Mary’s Hospital and the community at large, as well as physicians who have practiced at St. Mary’s Hospital and Medical Center.

St. Mary’s Foundation instituted the annual award as a tribute to Geno Saccomanno, MD, whose legacy of medical excellence serves as the benchmark for the prestigious honor. In its sixth year of the St. Mary’s Ball, the hospital expects to raise more than $250,000 and host more than 700 guests. Funds raised will assist a number of hospital programs such as palliative care, stroke and cancer programs, and medical education.

Born in Scotland and raised in Philadelphia, Shanks moved to Colorado in 1968 for a rotating internship at Presbyterian Hospital in Denver. He joined the United States Navy and lived around the country and world. After completing his military service, he returned to Denver to complete a general surgery residency at St. Joseph’s Hospital. He was recruited by Gordon Munro, MD, and Glen Kempers, MD, in 1976 to join their general surgery practice in Grand Junction, where the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth had founded St. Mary’s, a state-of-the art hospital with the most advanced operating rooms, emergency rooms and laboratory in the state. At St. Mary’s, Shanks says he worked with the most knowledgeable and dedicated nurses he had ever encountered, as well as superb physicians and medical staff.

During his 25 years on the staff of St. Mary’s, Shanks served as chief of surgery, president of the medical staff and a member of the hospital board. He was actively involved in securing a Level II Trauma designation for St. Mary’s as well as the development of the outpatient surgical center. He was an associate professor of surgery for the University of Colorado School of Medicine and enjoyed teaching the third-year medical students.

Shanks was active in Colorado’s surgical societies, serving as president of the Denver Academy of Surgery and the Colorado Chapter of the American College of Surgeons. He was also a member of the Board of the Southwest Surgical Society. He says that serving on the board of the Colorado Medical Society for six years and being elected as CMS president (1998-99) was a career highlight.

Shanks retired from active medical practice in 2001 and now divides his time between “on-call” house renovations for his children and restoring a centuries-old stone cottage in Derry, Ireland, adjacent to his wife Stella’s childhood home. When home in Grand Junction, Shanks channels his creative energy into building wooden boats. When not building homes or boats, Shanks enjoys exploring the far reaches of the world. His adventures in retirement include treking in Peru, scaling the Swiss Alps and kayaking in the Antartic.

“My 25 years as part of St. Mary’s staff and the trust of the patients of the Grand Valley will be forever cherished,” Shanks said. “And to the people of the Grand Valley, thanks for such a wonderful journey.”