Martin Peter Sayers (January 2, 1922 – June 17, 2013), "Pete" to his many friends, grew up in the early years of Upper Arlington, Ohio, which had been founded and developed by his uncles, King and Ben Thompson, and laid out by his father, Delbert Bancroft Sayers, as civil engineer. Sayers graduated from Upper Arlington High School in 1939, where he was class vice-president and captain of the football team. During his first two years at The Ohio State University, he played football and was president of the sophomore class. In the middle of his sophomore year, the United States entered WWII and needed doctors. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy, and matriculated in a condensed medical school program at OSU in 1945. He was a member of Phi Chi and Alpha Omega Alpha.
Upon graduation he continued on active duty at the U.S. Naval Hospital in Roanoke, Virginia. His internship at Philadelphia General Hospital (1945-46) was highlighted in neurology by experiences with Professors Abraham Ornsteen, Joseph Yaskin, and Bernard Alpers and in Neurosurgery with Professors Francis C. Grant, Rudolph Yeager, Temple Fay, and Michael Scott.
On active duty in the U.S. Navy at the Roanoke Neuropsychiatric Veterans Hospital, he worked on the ward and in the O.R. Neurosurgery residency at the University of Pennsylvania (1948-51) under Dr. Francis C. Grant was timed to allow participation in the establishment of the second department of pediatric neurosurgery in the United States at Philadelphia Children's Hospital.
In 1951 he returned to Ohio State where with Dr. LeFever he established a Department of Pediatric Neurological Surgery which he headed until retirement in 1987. They began a program of neonatal repair of myelomeningocele and shunting as feasible. His first successful ventriculojugular shunts were started a few weeks after introduction of the Spitz-Holter Valve in 1956.
As a result, one of the first multiple-discipline myelomeningocele clinics was established at Columbus Children's Hospital. More effective procedures for craniostenosis and plagiocephaly were then introduced. Radical morcellation, post traumatic autogenous bone cranioplasty and various degrees of calvariectomy laid the ground work for other essential pediatric procedures. Reduction cranioplasty for megacephaly and hydrocephalus and total head remodeling were added in the 1960s.
In an effort to escape many of the complications of shunting, percutaneous anterior and posterior third ventriculostomy and fenestration of cysts and obstructing membranes in arachnoid cysts and porencephaly were likewise accomplished, all with fluoroscopic guidance.
Dr. Sayers was a member of: American Association of Neurological Surgeons (Chairman of the Pediatric Section 1973, Matson Lecturer 1989); Congress of Neurological Surgeons (President 1961); Neurosurgical Society of America (President 1983); and, the American Society of Pediatric Neurosurgeons. He served for 28 years as an advisor for the Bureau of Crippled Children's Services of the State of Ohio and for 30 years as Consultant for the Easter Seal Crippled Children's Society.
Dr. Sayers married Marjorie Garvin in 1942. They had four children: Daniel, Stephen, Julia and Elaine.
The Martin P. Sayers, MD Papers (4.5 linear feet) contains information related to Dr. Sayers’ work, especially his patients.
This collection is arranged in three series:
Series I: Media (10 boxes) contains photographs, slides and a film. Due to the content of this media being patients, the entire series is restricted. This series is arranged by type of media.
Series II: Personal (9 file folders) contains information of a personal nature related to Dr. Sayers. This series is arranged by alphabetically.
Series III: Professional (45 file folders) contains patient records as well as other professional related materials. The patient records contained in this series are restricted. This series is arranged alphabetically.
The collection is open to the public and is available for viewing in the Medical Heritage Center. Materials do not circulate and must be used in the supervised reading room. Restrictions, including copyright, may exist and some materials may be too fragile to photocopy or digitize. The MHC charges for duplication services, which must be performed by staff.
[Identification of item], Martin P. Sayers, MD Papers, SPEC.201605.SAYERS, Medical Heritage Center, Health Sciences Library, The Ohio State University.