Allen Van Beek, MD (BS Med ‘66), receives the Sioux Award, the highest honor bestowed by the UND Alumni Association during Homecoming activities in October.

Allen Van Beek, MD (BS Med '66), knows that plastic surgery is a growing obsession in our image-conscious culture. But rather than performing Botox on bridesmaids, Van Beek devoted his career to the delicate art of reconstructive surgery.

An adjunct professor at the University of Minnesota with a practice in Edina, the Westfield, ND, native is a pioneer in the field of microsurgery: the use of microscopes to fix nerves and blood vessels. It's a highly-specialized skill that helps him reconstruct the limbs — and lives — of his patients.

Although he envisioned life as a laid-back family doctor in Montana, his experience patching up combatants in Vietnam as a flight surgeon took him in a unexpected direction. After the war, Van Beek credits friend Dennis Trzpuc, MD (BS Med '66), with leading him to the Indiana University School of Medicine, where he completed a surgical residency.

A New Focus
The ready supply of injured veterans spurred his interest in an emerging specialty: microsurgery. He traveled to San Antonio, TX, to research nerves with expert Sidney Ochs, PhD, and developed a passion for the microscope: “I loved it, and have never stopped operating with the microscope.”

At the time few centers for microsurgery existed, but the nearby University of Louisville was one of them. Van Beek jumped at the chance, and learned a new idea: “free-flap,” whereby tissue is moved to new areas of the body. This was squarely the province of plastic surgery, and Van Beek’s mentor, Harold Kleinert, MD, suggested he address it. Slyly, Kleinert already had a position in mind for his protégé. “I was sort of auctioned off.”

After residency training at Southern University School of Medicine in Springfield, IL, Van Beek settled in Minneapolis, realizing his goal of establishing a microsurgery program. “It was as close to home as I could get.”

North Dakota was a formative influence. As a youth, Van Beek experienced a ‘limb trauma’ first-hand when he fell from a tractor and broke his leg. The most colorful aspect, he says, was his transfer to a Bismarck hospital: “It took place in a hearse.”

His father, Lester, an auctioneer, sometimes dealt with farm animals. Van Beek decided to become a veterinarian, until a real one advised him otherwise: “Son, become a doctor.” The advice resonated.

High Profiles
Van Beek's highest profile reattachment case was that of John Thompson. In 1992 the Hurdsfield, ND, farm boy lost his arms to a spinning power take off shaft. Thompson eventually regained limited use of his hands and fingers and today does motivational speaking.

Even more daunting was a newborn with missing fingers, severed during a cesarean procedure. The case of Kristen Meckle, of Crosby, ND, remains the youngest successful finger replant ever. Lower-profile, but also important is his mission work through Grace Church in Eden Prairie. During trips to Central and South America, he treats defects of the hand and face. “These are kids who otherwise wouldn't be taken care of.”

Van Beek knows that his pioneering and multifaceted work as a surgeon isn't just about limbs and faces: “We're really dealing with quality of life.”