The Rev. Louis J. Putz, C.S.C., Award - 2024: Dr. Theodore Stransky '67
Dr. Theodore Stransky '67
Dr. Theodore Stransky '67 can trace his desire to help the medically underserved back to his days at Notre Dame. As a student pursuing his degree in preprofessional studies, he spent time as a physician’s assistant in a village in rural Mexico, an experience that left a significant imprint and set the stage for a career spent helping to provide medical care in the international community.
After earning his medical degree from Case Western Reserve University, Dr. Stransky opened his vitreoretinal practice in Evansville, Indiana, specializing in diseases of the eye affecting the vitreous and retina. While in active practice, he worked to advance the provision of modern and quality healthcare across borders. Between 1992 and 2000, he aided a colleague in Poland in upgrading the Medical University of Lublin’s vitreoretinal capabilities following the fall of the Soviet Union; hosted two Polish ophthalmologists in his practice for training; and made six visits to the country to provide donated equipment and assist with diagnostics and surgery.
In 1999, in response to the Jamaican Ministry of Health’s request for help in establishing vitreoretinal surgery at Kingston Public Hospital, the island’s main referral hospital for complicated indigent patients, Dr. Stransky trained one of the hospital’s consultant ophthalmologists during a several-week stay in Evansville. He also acquired and arranged for the shipment of donated equipment and supplies and later spent 10 days in Kingston with one of his staff members providing surgery.
A private pilot for more than 20 years, Dr. Stransky is also involved with the Flying Physicians Association, a group for physician-pilots promoting safety, education, and human interest projects relating to medicine and aviation. Following the catastrophic earthquake in Haiti in 2010, he joined a contingent of Flying Physicians to transport some 2,000 pounds of donations to the Dominican Republic to be distributed to Haiti by the United Nations. In 2013, he organized a Flying Physicians meeting at Notre Dame — the group’s first on a university campus.
Dr. Stransky is an active Notre Dame club member and has held various club leadership positions, including two terms as club president. He was a charter member of the Dr. Tom Dooley Society, an organization founded in 2005 for the medical alumni of Notre Dame, and served as president in 2007. He and his wife, Ana, are the proud parents of four Notre Dame alumni: Maria ’96, Alena ’01, Theodore ’03, ’04, and Katrina ’07.