Distinguished Alumnus

DR. CHRISTOPHER MADDEN ’84 NAMED JESUIT DALLAS DISTINGUISHED ALUMNUS

The recipient of the 2019 Jesuit Dallas Distinguished Alumnus Award, Dr. Christopher Madden ’84 has made a life seeking historic discoveries in the pursuit of transforming patient care and eradicating neurological disease. His contributions to the science and medical communities have been both vast and significant, and have exemplified in an exceptional way a response to the challenge of all Jesuit Dallas graduates to live a life as God’s hands on earth.

Madden was announced as vice president and chief operations officer at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in July, 2019, after having spent the previous four years as the clinical director of the preeminent Peter O’Donnell Jr. Brain Institute, which boasts the largest team of researchers and physicians in North Texas and whose staff has included six Nobel Prize winners.

As COO at UT Southwestern, Madden provides oversight for the Medical Group’s clinical practice and administrative functions at all areas of service, including UT Southwestern Hospitals, Parkland Health & Hospital System, Children’s Health, the Veterans Affairs North Texas Health Care System, and all UTSW clinically affiliated partners.

An invited speaker at conferences and symposiums throughout the world, Madden has led numerous educational lectures in clinics and hospitals, presented at nearly two dozen national scientific meetings, and served as an investigator on numerous studies involving traumatic brain injury. Highly regarded in the health community for his innovation, passion, and leadership, Madden’s work has been published in over 60 medical and science publications spanning two decades.

Beginning his career in general surgery, and moving later to neurological surgery, at The Ohio State University Hospital, Madden spent one year at the internationally-renowned Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge, England, on a fellowship in skull base surgery.

Madden’s affiliation with UT Southwestern Medical Center began in 2003 as an assistant professor of neurological surgery, after the Dallas native returned home to become chief of neurosurgery and medical director of the neurological ICU for the Parkland Health & Hospital System.

Rising through the administrative ranks, Madden served as chief medical officer at Parkland Hospital for three years beginning in 2012, and now at UT Southwestern, finds himself helping to govern a hospital that was recently named the No. 1 Best

Hospital in Dallas-Fort Worth by U.S. News & World Report for the third consecutive year.

Madden, who received the Distinguished Physician Award at Parkland in 2007, was presented with the Lawrence J. Mervis Faculty Teaching Award for his contributions in the division of neurosurgery at Ohio State. He served as president of the Texas Association of Neurological Sciences in 2010, and has drawn considerable acclaim for his contributions to neuroscience by D Magazine and Best Doctors, Inc.

“I’m so grateful to have been given the opportunity to devote my life to medicine. The field is so multi-faceted, and I’m always learning. Our mission to improve patient care has led to tremendous advancements and saved countless lives. The work has been both thrilling and humbling.”

Madden will be officially presented with the Distinguished Alumnus Award at the President’s Reception on May 31, 2020 at Union Station.

Four young men from the Jesuit Dallas Class of 2020 were recently recognized by the College Board and American College Testing for achieving perfect scores on the nation’s top college entrance exams. Senior William Nickols posted a 1600 on the SAT, while classmates William Carr, Collin Landry, and Antonio Marques (pictured left to right) each earned a top composite score of 36 on the ACT.

While the actual number of students earning a composite total of 36 varies from year to year, approximately one-tenth of one percent of students who take the ACT achieve a top score. The ACT consists of tests in English, mathematics, reading and science. Each test is scored on a scale of 1-36, and a student’s composite score is the average of the four test scores. Among seniors in the class of 2020, roughly 2,800 out of 2.1 million students earned a composite score of 36 (0.13%).

Posting a 1600 on the SAT is even more rare, with PrepScholar’s latest report indicating that the elusive perfect total on the exam is achieved by roughly 0.0176% of all test-takers, or approximately 400 of the 2.2 million test takers.

“Jesuit Dallas continues to exceed the college readiness benchmarks put forth by the SAT and ACT,” shared Dr. Ben Kirby, Assistant Principal for Curriculum and Academic Support. “For the last three years, the senior class has averaged well over 1300 on their SAT and over 28 on each section of the ACT. While colleges look at many variables during their application processes, we are proud that our students have access to test preparation through intentional curricular design in courses across campus. Students, with exposure to Jesuit teachers, Jesuit courses, and their own hard work, have been able to improve their scores significantly between the first PSAT they take as a freshman to the SAT or ACT they take as a senior. Their commitment to becoming intellectually competent is impressive.”

Since 2015, nine Jesuit Dallas students have registered a top composite score on the ACT, although this class marks the first time that three students have achieved the feat in the same academic year. Seven Jesuit students have produced a perfect score on the SAT since 2012.

Jesuit Dallas Museum Hosts Retelling of “The Game of the Century”

The Jesuit Dallas Museum (JDM) offered a unique look inside college football sports history at its latest exhibition, “Beyond the Big Shootout,” named after Mark S. McDonald’s critically-acclaimed novel of the same name. Wonderfully illustrated by award-winning cartoonist and Jesuit Dallas alumnus, Bill DeOre ’65, McDonald’s book details the epic 1969 gridiron battle between Arkansas and Texas, which was attended by President Nixon and covered by the national media from coast to coast. More than 2,000 patrons toured the exhibit between September and December, 2019.

Said McDonald, “Beyond the Big Shootout is a look back at the late Frank Broyles and the late Darrell Royal, two coaching legends, two friends that traveled together in the offseason, two powerful programs – mirror images of each other, forging ahead to a national championship. But the core message of the book is how that day shaped the lives of the players and how in many ways it shaped our own lives.” The tilt, which is sometimes referred to as the “Game of the Century,” saw the nationally-ranked No. 1 Longhorns rally from a 14–0 deficit in the fourth quarter to beat the No. 2 Razorbacks, 15–14.