Tim Kremchek, Wittenberg University class of 1981, serves as medical director and chief orthopaedic surgeon for the Cincinnati Reds, as well as all the team's minor league affiliates. Kremchek has also run a private practice in orthopaedic surgery and sports medicine in the Cincinnati area since 1993, becoming a leader in the orthopaedic care of athletes across the country.
Kremchek has given back to his alma mater in many ways through the years, serving as Wittenberg's team orthopaedist and leading a fund-raising effort that culminated in construction of the Kremchek Family Athletic Training Facility in the HPER Center in 2012.
What follows is an excerpt from a feature story that ran in Cincinnati Magazine on Dec. 31, 2014. A link at the bottom of the page will take readers to the complete story.
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“I’m not harping on you to be a jackass. I’m harping on you to make you better.” It’s dark inside the operating room at the Beacon Orthopaedics & Sports Medicine Summit Woods office in Sharonville, the only light emanating from a bank of flatscreen monitors and an overhead lamp. Dr. Timothy Kremchek, M.D., commandeers the shoulder scope of a middle-aged woman, nudging aside a young doctor-in-training who is struggling with the surgery. Water and blood spill onto the floor as Kremchek controls a surgical camera in one hand and a suction-assisted cartilage shaver in the other—both submerged in the patient’s shoulder—while staring straight ahead at a monitor. It’s as if the doctor is playing a video game, moving the implements around without taking his eyes off the screen, the trainee staring on intently. The contents of the shoulder resemble pink, fluffy housing insulation, a layer of padding interrupted by frayed tears. The tears aren’t supposed to be there, hence the scope, intended to clean up and repair any damaged cartilage.
Despite the nervous looks from a now uncertain novice and the eerie vibe given off by the dim lights and steady stream of blood, Kremchek is clearly in control. His somewhat intimidating appearance—a 6-foot-3 frame and broad shoulders topped by his bald head and dark, piercing eyes—is offset by a relaxed demeanor, calmly narrating his movements without pausing the operation.