Dr. John Rectenwald has volunteered to fill a slot in the surgery rotation of Landstuhl Regional Medical Center at Ramstein Air Base in Germany, where many soldiers injured in Iraq and Afghanistan are treated.
A vascular surgeon at the Cardiovascular Center, Rectenwald left May 23 and was expected to return Sunday. He joined 51 other members of the Society for Vascular Surgery (SVS) in relieving the limited number of vascular surgeons in the military who are filling positions in military hospitals in the United States and internationally.
Rectenwald says he wants to help the men and women serving in the U.S. military.
“As a vascular surgeon I have the training to help these wounded soldiers in a unique way,” says Rectenwald, 39, who also is an assistant professor of surgery and radiology at the Medical School.
Rectenwald responded to a call for volunteers made by the SVS, a national advocate for 2,800 vascular surgeons dedicated to the prevention and cure of vascular disease.
He is on staff at U-M, where his wife, Dr. Rebecca Minter, also works as a general surgeon. They are raising their 1-year-old son, Jack, in Ann Arbor.
