The John Templeton Jr., MD Chair of Neurosurgery

The Professorship was created in 2016 by the family of John Templeton, Jr., MD to honor his memory and many contributions to medicine. The chair supports a faculty member in the Department of Neurosurgery who performs research and clinical work in the area of neuro-oncology

Dr. John Templeton, Jr., MD (1940–2015), an accomplished surgeon and philanthropist, was a leader at both The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and the Templeton Foundation. Influenced by the death of his mother in a motorcycle accident when he was a boy, Dr. Templeton dedicated much of his career to providing and improving care for trauma patients. At CHOP, he served as Surgeon and then Director of the Trauma Program from 1977 to 1995. His wife, Josephine Templeton, MD, was a clinical anesthesiologist at CHOP who often worked alongside her husband.

Dr. Templeton retired from CHOP in 1995 to head the John Templeton Foundation, which had been founded by his father, the investor, businessman, and philanthropist Sir John Templeton (1912–2008), and where Josephine Templeton continues to serve as Trustee. The Templeton Foundation supports and encourages the interaction among scientists, theologians, philosophers, and other experts exploring what the Foundation identifies as “the Big Questions of human purpose and ultimate reality.”

Current Chairholder

Donald M. O’Rourke, MD

Donald M. O’Rourke, MD, is the John Templeton Jr., MD Professor of Neurosurgery, Director of the Human Brain Tumor Tissue Bank, and Director of the Glioblastoma Translational Center of Excellence at Penn Medicine. Dr. O'Rourke is also a founding member of the Philadelphia Coalition for a Cure (PC4C), a first-of-its-kind precision medicine study supporting collaborative research on brain tumors across both pediatric and adult patients.

Dr. O’Rourke’s laboratory studies targeted therapies and immunotherapies for brain cancer, including the application of CART immunotherapy to glioblastoma.

Dr. O’Rourke received his AB in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Harvard, and his MD from Penn.  He completed his residency in Neurosurgery and fellowship in Pathology & Laboratory Medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and the Perelman School of Medicine. He has been recognized annually since 2005 in Philadelphia magazine’s list of Top Doctors, and has also been named one of the Best Doctors in America and one of America’s Top Doctors annually since 2006.