Ron Stewart

Oct. 11, 1942–Oct. 22, 2024

Should disaster strike, be it a mass casualty event, severe flu outbreak or some other form of catastrophe, the emergency department’s response rests heavily on the medical director. One of the most respected physicians to ever hold that position, Ron Stewart, an MD and pioneering leader who greatly advanced emergency medicine and paramedicine in North America, died at 82 in October.

Stewart, the son of a coal miner from Cape Breton, devoted more than 50 years to the health of others, working in both Canada and the United States. Elected to Nova Scotia’s Legislative Assembly in 1992, he served as health minister under Premier John Savage. Leveraging his background in emergency medicine, Stewart aimed to reform health care by promoting community-oriented and accessible health services. His political career emphasized improving emergency response systems and reevaluating how health care served nonemergency patients.

Stewart served as the first medical director in the Los Angeles paramedic program and went on to start the University of Pittsburgh’s emergency medicine residency. He also was key to developing Pittsburgh’s emergency medical response system.

Initially serving as section and then division chief at Pitt, Stewart developed cross-site partnerships that led to the creation of the Center for Emergency Medicine of Western Pennsylvania. His work paved the way for the acute care services we rely on today.

Donald Yealy, an MD Distinguished Professor of Emergency Medicine and chair of the department, was recruited early in his career by Stewart to join Pitt Med’s emergency medicine residency program. Yealy didn’t anticipate being drawn to the program, but Stewart’s influence quickly changed his perspective: “I was immediately impressed with not only his enthusiasm for emergency medicine, but his enthusiasm for people. No matter who you were, he multiplied whatever interest you had in taking care of people who were acutely ill and injured.”

People knew Stewart for his passion and zeal, not only in his professional life but in life in general. Yealy recalls him as “an incredibly articulate and charming man, always full of energy and eclectic.”

Stewart’s contributions to EMS have been described as immeasurable. The Pittsburgh Bureau of EMS honored him in a Facebook post that reads, “While it is probable that no one will be able to accurately measure the contribution that Dr. Stewart has truly made to emergency medicine and the Emergency Medical Services, it is certain that visionaries and pioneers such as Dr. Stewart have served as the architects to what EMS has been built into today.”

Elizabeth Sagan

Feb. 1, 1953–Jan. 31, 2025

To Kate Brown and her siblings, Mom was Mom, regardless of how successful she was in her professional life.

“We knew she was this badass in her arena, but she was just our mother at home—never bragged,” Brown says of Elizabeth Sagan (MD ’79, Res ’84), who died Jan. 31, the day before her 72nd birthday.

Pamela Moalli, an MD, PhD professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive sciences at Pitt and interim executive director of the Magee-Womens Research Institute, was a student of Sagan’s before working closely with her at UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital.

Under Sagan’s tutelage and as her colleague in the operating room for years, Moalli learned much about Sagan’s journey. She was the only woman among the 30 residents in the urology program during her time and “distinguished herself for her exceptional clinical acumen, technical skills and an unwavering commitment to her patients,” Moalli says.

Upon completing her residency, Sagan dedicated herself to women’s urologic care—among the first in the country to do that, and the first in Pittsburgh, Moalli says. She established a private practice at Magee in 1990 before joining UPMC in 2012.

Sagan taught Pitt Med urology and obstetrics and gynecology residents, and did it so well that she twice won the ob/gyn teaching award, even though she was a urologist.

Moalli says that those who trained under Sagan were well versed in the “Sagan way” of doing things. She notes the residents performed dozens of cystoscopies and stent replacements as part of her training regimen, which was atypical. “We also learned urology procedures like bladder biopsies, diverticulum resections and suburethral slings, and that was not typical of an ob/gyn residency.

“She was very strict. But I still hear her voice and make sure I’m abiding by the Sagan rules: ‘Take the time to define the anatomy before starting a case.’ Or, ‘Proper retraction and visualization are key to a good surgical outcome.’”

Sagan’s daughter Molly O’Brien shares a story that illustrates just how deep her mother’s influence ran:

Sagan interrupted what should’ve been a peaceful time for O’Brien, her husband and their newborn twins during the pandemic. O’Brien had just delivered at Magee, and Sagan was able to sneak in because, while retired, she still had her badge.

“Here I am luxuriating in the birthing room at a time when no one else can visit,” O’Brien says. “We have four other kids at home, it was quiet, and throughout the day, no one else came to visit me.”

But after her mother arrived, people caught wind—and went out of their way to say hello. “People who worked in the office, ob/gyns—they all came in saying, ‘Oh, Dr. Sagan, we heard you were in here.’

“The breadth of the people who worked in the hospital showed up to see her. They got her really nice flowers—her, not me!” O’Brien says it with a smile.

The family encourages donations to the Magee-Womens Research Institute and Foundation in Elizabeth Sagan’s memory.

Read more from the Spring 2025 issue.