Tyne Family Pays it Forward
Throughout his 41 years in practice as an orthopedic surgeon and the ensuing 11 years since his retirement, Lee Tyne, MD ’67, and his wife of 62 years — Margaret “Marge” Tyne — have generously shared their gratitude for the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health (SMPH).
“Going to medical school in Madison was a life-changing event for me,” said Lee Tyne, age 86. “I enjoyed my professors and classmates in medical school and learned to be a competent, caring physician. I just felt that I owed something back. Marge and I had been contributing to the Class of 1967 Great People Scholarship Fund for several years, but lately we thought the time was right to enhance our level of giving.”
The Tynes acted on this goal by creating the Dr. Lee M. and Margaret R. Tyne Scholarship Fund, which provides financial support for an SMPH medical student with demonstrated financial need.
A Family History of Learning and Serving
A native of Sterling, Illinois, Lee Tyne spent the first three of his undergraduate years at UW–Madison — where he met Marge Tyne in 1957 — before completing his bachelor’s degree at the University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign. Returning to Madison in 1963 to begin medical school at SMPH, Lee Tyne earned his medical degree in 1967. He completed an orthopedics residency at Michael Reese Hospital and Medical Center (now closed) in Chicago and a hand surgery fellowship at Passavant Memorial Hospital, one of two entities that in 1972 combined to form today’s Northwestern Memorial Hospital.
Marge Tyne grew up in West Allis, Wisconsin, and graduated with a bachelor’s degree from UW–Madison, where she studied child development. She received her nursing degree from Cardinal Stritch University in Fox Point, Wisconsin, and worked as a cardiology nurse at Froedtert Hospital in Milwaukee for 20 years.
Lee and Marge Tyne live in Brookfield, Wisconsin, where they raised their family and where the practice that Lee Tyne co-founded — Aspen Orthopedic and Rehabilitation Specialists — is still based. The couple has four daughters: Elisabeth Jozwiak, JD, an attorney; Kari Tyne, MD ’02, a family physician; Shannon Nies, a marketing professional; and Michelle Selby, a teaching assistant. They also have nine grandchildren.
Tyne’s daughter Kari is a Badger physician like her father. She established a family practice in Bend, Oregon.
When it comes to helping others, Lee Tyne’s deeds beautifully complement his family’s financial generosity. Twice annually for more than 15 years, he traveled on mission trips to Guatemala, where he performed orthopedic surgery on countless patients. Other medical missions have taken him to the Philippines and Haiti.
Inaugural Scholarship Recipient Flourishes at SMPH
In the fall of 2023, Janmesh Patel was selected as the initial recipient of the Tyne Family Scholarship. Patel will begin his third year of medical school at SMPH in September 2024. A native of India, Patel and his family moved to Jacksonville, Florida, when he was a small boy. When he was in seventh grade, his family moved to Green Bay, Wisconsin, the city he proudly calls home.
Highly advanced in mathematics, physics and work he can do with his hands, Patel majored in biomedical engineering at UW–Madison, graduating as part of the “COVID class” of 2020.
“I wasn’t especially drawn to medicine initially,” Patel said. “As an undergraduate, a small group of engineering students and I worked on projects that had a strong medical foundation. One was a self-removable, intrauterine device, while another was a near-infrared pen for marking breast tissue before reconstructive surgery.”
These experiences, Patel said, allowed him to leverage his passion for engineering with a desire to help people with medical challenges. After working in a laboratory setting for 18 months at Madison-based Exact Sciences, Patel enrolled at SMPH in fall 2022.
Thanks to the generosity of Dr. and Mrs. Tyne, I look forward to giving back by caring for people close to home.
- Janmesh Patel
As a medical student, Patel has worked with Assistant Professor Jose Ayuso, PhD, and other faculty members in the Department of Dermatology who have been applying microfluidic technology to develop an in vitro model for the granuloma formation exhibited in patients with sarcoidosis, a rare inflammatory condition. He has also assisted Vincent Ma, MD — an assistant professor who specializes in hematology, medical oncology, and palliative care in the Department of Medicine — by conducting a melanoma literature review, among other tasks.
Patel is on track to earn his medical degree in 2026 and hopes to practice medicine in Wisconsin.
“I have had the chance to flourish since moving to Wisconsin as a young teenager,” he said. “The state and University of Wisconsin–Madison have given me so many opportunities, and thanks to the generosity of Dr. and Mrs. Tyne, I look forward to giving back by caring for people close to home.”