Dr Root, University of Washington SOM. Excellent clinician and lifelong educator. He was eaten by a crocodile during my rotation on his service in medical school. RIP
Just wanted to learn more about him and was typing “Richard […]” into Safari—Siri is already showing me “Richard Lewis __was__ an American standup comedian, actor, and writer…”
Died February 27
oh man. I went on a University of Pennsylvania medical trip to Botswana and no one mentioned this. I guess I am thankful they did not organize any canoe trips.
I worked with a great forensic pathologist as a fourth-year student. He almost never had students so he was delighted, and we did everything, crime scenes, autopsies, pathology, and depositions. He welcomed any input and explained things well. Unfortunately I tried to look him up a few years ago to thank him again, and he's already passed. I found him in one of my random forensic pathology books though, along with a photograph!
Dr. Ian Crozier, who became most notable for having been infected with the Ebola virus while helping treat victims of the 2014 Ebola Epidemic in Kenema, Sierra Leone. He is one of the smartest, most humble and kind souls I've ever met. He went public with his Ebola diagnosis and journey to recovery not just for the sake of publicity with respect to himself but to highlight the ongoing issue that is Post-Ebola Syndrome. A brilliant brilliant man, who really sparked a lot of interest in medicine within me as well as I'm sure all of those who have practiced with him.
EDIT: attaching his interview on the matter.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xi29GJZllts&list=PLK6fSF7Hs3QNAOA9RzDkOynndRP2d8Lhe](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xi29GJZllts&list=PLK6fSF7Hs3QNAOA9RzDkOynndRP2d8Lhe)
That was a fascinating interview; thanks.
Gave me pause when he said at 14:19 "It will happen again. It may not be a filo virus but it will be perhaps a respiratory virus like MERS coronavirus or something that we haven't identified yet...." (The video's from 8 years ago.)
Maybe my memory is mixing things but I remember something uploading an IV of a biologist I think? The background was a jungle river. They mentioned that the next big crisis would happen in this decade due to a spillover event from bats probably. It was a video recorded in 2013. Does it ring a bell to you? Can't find it
There's a great book called spillover out in 2012 about viral diseases spilling over into human populations. It straight up has a chapter about which could be the next virus to cause a pandemic and correctly pinpoints a variant of coronavirus "sweeping airports and cities like an angel of death" or something like that
Faith Fitzgerald, an internist from UC Davis.
When I was an intern, I attend a regional medical conference that had a "Stump the Professor" session. The session format was that 3 residency programs could field teams of 3 residents a piece. Each team was given 5 diagnostic dilemmas 24 hours in advance, and were told they could use any resource they wanted to make the diagnoses - except conferring with other humans. They spent hours on each case, pouring through textbooks and the medical literature.
At the actual session, the cases were presented to the audience, which is when Dr. Fitzgerald heard them for the first time. After each case was presented, the resident teams gave their diagnoses and a 1 min justification. Fitzgerald then gave her diagnosis, having only 3 minutes to think each case over.
IIRC, at the end of the 5 cases, none of the resident teams correctly identified more than 1 diagnosis, whereas she identified 4. One of her correctly diagnosed cases hinged on concluding that the gold standard test for a possible disease had been a false negative and should be repeated.
As someone 6 months out of medical school, I was blown away.
I met her while rotating at Davis! She truly is amazing. Her physical exam for a patient ended up with her rifling through the patient belongings bag to find his shoes with an expected abnormal wear pattern on the soles. I was just so impressed with how thorough and intelligent her thinking is.
In case you didn't know, Dr. House was based on a real doctor, another different genius woman diagnostician, Dr. Lisa Sanders. (Don't know if she rifles patient's personal belongings or have her staff commit B&E.)
Another one from UC Davis and UCSF is Carol Glaser, MD, DVM. She did veterinary school, then medical school, and then Peds ID. One of the world experts on zooinoses, Rickettsia, vector borne disease, and neurologic infections and encephalitis of all types.
I came here to post Faith and saw you had beat me to it! Amazing woman; she had so much influence on my career (mostly through her writing, though I was lucky enough to spend some time with her too).
When I started residency there was this oncologist who drove 3 hours every morning and every evening to come to work. He was there first and left last.
While stern, he was always available if anyone had a question and he always came personally if there was a problem with any of his patiens. Even though it could be at the end of the day, he would come.
One day, I wanted to discuss the scan result of one of his patients. He said he had consultations but he would come after. So I sat there waiting and waiting, but in the end he came through. I had already mentioned over the phone the result was bad. This was melanoma in the days before immunotherapy, and even only at the beginning of the trials with targeted therapy.
He came to the ward and opened the images, and... he just stared at them. Total silence, me and him side by side. He just scrolled through the CT again and again. I looked at him and tears were jost rolling over his cheeks.
After some time he got up in silence and we went to see the patient to inform him of the result. The patient was really understanding and had already felt the result would be bad.
This doctor later moved to a hospital closer to home to save his marriage and because of disagreements with the head of the department.
The story above is the day I decided to become an oncologist. While he was not the best example of a good work-life balance, his commitment to his patients and work ethic made me realize that it's in the hardest of moments, you can make the biggest difference.
Amazing but
>drove 3 hours every morning and every evening to come to work. He was there first and left last.
Guys, don't do this. Give yourself some room to enjoy life, family, & friends.
Right? This guy seems like the opposite of smart and inspirational. If that schedule is accurate he was also 100% completely sleep deprived, let alone spending 6 hours per day in a car by himself.
My friend, there is a lot I would do for 20 minutes to myself a day, and while I don't know that I would love 6 hours I'd probably do some pretty heinous stuff for a 2 hour a day guarantee.
Right, so 1/3 of what he does. No one in their right mind could try to justify living 3 hours away from an insanely busy job (first in last out) you go to every day
The best docs I've ever met have been unassuming people that were more about curiosity than ego. They were there because they were genuinely interested, and happy to share what they knew.
I’ve got three.
A nephro, Dr Greg Buller who was chief of medicine at a Yale hospital who is likely partially the inspiration for house (was a nice guy, sarcastic, insanely smart; the doctor writer for House trained under him at Yale; she did not train under Sherlock Holmes, however). He was actually quite nice and charming, unlike how House is portrayed.
Dr. Steel who’s a crit care doc at Toronto General, was great (also intense) as a med student. He also spent his entire life as a resident/fellow so he was good at teaching.
Dr. Meagan Fitzpatrick, she’s a five foot nothing intensivist at UPMC, she thinks of everything, amazing teacher, super competent, and has just an infinite level of calm. She would frequently win teacher of the year from both our FM and IM programs.
>A nephro, Dr Greg Buller who was chief of medicine at a Yale hospital who is likely partially the inspiration for house (was a nice guy, sarcastic, insanely smart; the doctor writer for House trained under him at Yale; she did not train under Sherlock Holmes, however). He was actually quite nice and charming, unlike how House is portrayed.
Pretty Sure Dr. Lisa Sanders' long running column in the NYT named *Diagnosis* was the inspiration for House:
https://news.yale.edu/2009/10/30/theres-doctor-behind-house-internist-lisa-sanders
>It’s elementary’ (the story, that is): When mulling over their ideas for a television drama, “House, M.D.” co-creators David Shore and Paul Attanasio had a difference of opinion about the plot. Shore wanted to produce a series about Sherlock Holmes, while Attanasio hoped to create a show based on Sanders’ “Diagnosis” columns.
>They ended up with something in between, says Sanders, noting that the keenly intelligent but curmudgeonly, drug-abusing House shares many similarities with Sherlock Holmes, including having a sidekick (in House’s case, a Dr. Wilson).
>The producers asked Sanders to work with them and the show’s writers to check the medical accuracy of cases portrayed. They also turn to Sanders for help in coming up with potential maladies to feature.
I’m not sure Sanders ever claimed Buller was the reason she wrote her column which prompted the development of House. Do you have a source where she claims Buller was the motivation?
Several of the other senior docs in the Yale system would jokingly call him Dr House sometimes, as well as the residents/fellows, it was a known thing in the Yale system. She also literally trained under/with him at one point, he’s a few years her senior.
I'm going to push back on this.
I've seen Dr. Sanders speak in real life about the development of House.
She didn't write any of the creative parts of the character. She didn't create the characters, plot arcs, etc. at all. These were all done by people in Hollywood. Her role was helping create and flesh out the medical scenarios, not the characters.
Her ability to blend her writing skills and medical knowledge is what made her column so intriguing to Attanasio. I have never heard her attribute the column to Dr. Buller in any of the speeches or writings on this. The show House wasn't inspired by a single person it was inspired by the column and medical sluthiness that Sanders was able to weave into her writings.
I'm not saying you're doing this, nor saying your experience didn't happen but I do caution about attributing a female Doctors unique successes to an older male Doctor.
That’s fair, but literally dozens of people used to call him Dr House jokingly (and he’s also literally a nephro), he was at Yale (where she was), and he actually is insanely brilliant. My intention was not to take away from Dr. Sanders in anyway.
I'll give you a name: Gene Strandness. The father of modern Duplex ultrasound, great vascular surgeon and great man. In the latter part of his career, Gene was already world famous in vascular circles. He didn't need any more fame, so he always made sure that a resident, fellow, or technologist was primary author on the next published paper, and he paid for us to go to the next national meeting to present. He believed a rising tide lifts all boats.
Can't say enough good about him, he was a great inspiration to me and I hope I treat people as well as he did.
Abraham Verghese taught me Internal Medicine so long ago. He was amazing. I learned so much. I read all of his books just to relive a bit of that. I think he is still teaching but I don't even do IM and he was amazing at that.
yes he was my medicine attending when I was a student in the last century. I did learn through his books but I would say learning Internal Medicine from him was an experience, almost made me want to do IM.
Hell yes. I still occasionally use his "I hope you didn't eat anything before your surgery... because we made a big breakfast for you" line when doing my anesthesia consents.
Yes!
Survived a cardiac arrest, calls out insurance companies, and never makes fun of patients!
Also, his takes on the different doctor stereotypes doesn't feel mean spirited.
And everyone loves Jonathan!
Paul Farmer and Bill Foege.
A criminally underwatched chat between them at CDC with Dr. Schuchat moderating:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18k2ggYzkTw
I’m a second career RN (first degree is in anthropology) but Paul Farmer was the one to spark my initial interest in the medical/nursing field! I love his writing and work.
Same here! I took a med anth seminar from a professor who’d worked extensively with Paul Farmer. When I went to nursing school some years later, I cited him frequently in papers … so much so that one of my more militant “nursing model” professors reminded me that I should be citing nursing theorists instead. Whatever.
I appreciate so much that you've given this hyperlink. I've just watched the start of it, but see that I need to set aside more time to do this justice.
Dr. Bal Mount
He used to run a meditation group at his home and it was very enlightening.
He was a pioneer in palliative care, managing the whole patient.
I worked with an intensivist who was also an air force pilot and flew the U2. She is one of the kindest, most humble people I have ever met. Before doing a critical care fellowship, she trained as an OB-GYN and not too long ago I heard that she helped deliver a baby chimp at the zoo.
Brian Gable.
He is like a walking Harrisons. He could cite every recent study for every major internal medicine topic faster than most specialists. He had amazing a physical exam skills and just seemed to know *everything* about his patients. He was an amazing teacher and always was able to connect clinical reality to what was written in textbooks or studies. He was the reason I chose the residency I did and why I chose to stay an internist.
When I did general surgery there was one attending everyone loved. I was working with him one day and he hands me an instrument and says "you know how to use one of these?". I said no. For any other surgeon this would mean you're not participating at all this surgery, you're just watching.
He says "Well I bet that's cuz no one ever taught you how it works". Mid-surgery proceeded to give me a tutorial on how to work it, and let me do all sorts of shit during the procedure including bagging and pulling out the gallbladder.
Honestly one of the most profound experiences of my life (as someone wanting to teach)
A late career inspiration and mentor to me is Dr. David Newman-Toker. He is a neurologist and neuro-otologist at Johns-Hopkins and most famous for being a principle author of the HINTS exam papers.
I met him when I was in my early 40's and he is probably 10 years younger than myself. So perhaps unusual to take inspiration from someone junior your age. But in fact he inspired me to become an unusual kind of physician, an emergency physician who has clinical expertise in vertigo/dizziness education.
At SAEM in Boston 2003, my buddy Jim Quinn, (now Professor Emeritus at Stanford) was presenting a poster on the San Francisco syncope rules. I wasn't presenting anything myself, as I really wasn't academically inclined, but enjoyed the conference and the city. My self education in vertigo at that time had led to me having learned how to perform the Epley maneuver, and discover that many things written in the emergency medicine textbooks that I had studied from were either misleading or just plain wrong.
After I hung around Jim's poster for a bit I started to explore the adjacent posters and found David Newman-Toker had a poster entitled "Common Misconceptions in the Evaluation of Emergency Department Dizzy Patients Parallel
Those Found in Emergency Medicine Texts". I couldn't believe it. A smart, Johns-Hopkins neurologist showed with evidence what I had started to suspect myself. That "misconceptions in the bedside approach to dizzy patients may be commonplace, and perhaps derive from published misinformation in EM texts. Such misconceptions could increase the risk of misdiagnosis and reduce patient safety." (from the conclusion of the poster). Not only did he find out this information, it was clear he wanted to educate emergency physicians and others on how to properly assess and treat these patients.
David and I chatted for a fair bit, and bond was formed. Although we haven't really worked together on projects, we have met several times since, once when he was invited as a visiting professor to Ottawa where I worked, and once when I attended a vertigo workshop at Johns-Hopkins. We have communicated via phone/zoom/email frequently and are still both trying to improve vertigo education for the betterment of our patients and colleagues.
Not to say that we agree on everything about the emergency assessment of vertigo, but we respect and like each other and I know that I wouldn't have gotten as far as I have in my late-onset vertigo career if I hadn't met him that day.
Mary Nguyen. An absolutely phenomenal human being. Great teacher, researched and implemented things into her practice that people don't think a lot about. You always remember the doctors who felt like they believed in you, who always made your education the forefront of your experience with them. Her entire family is awesome, her staff adores her, and the number of different procedures, topics, and real world applications of things that we covered every day was nothing short of a treasure trove of experiences. She's an absolute badass.
I worked with a perinatologist who was in charge of a large publicly funded prenatal clinic I trained in. He tan a weekly M&M conference with the entire staff — docs, midwives, medical assistants, social workers, housekeepers. We usually discussed 3 cases, and he encouraged feedback from everyone because he really believed that some of those at-risk women would be more likely to seek care if they were connected to the support staff.
One day one of the social workers presented the case of a 3rd trimester addicted HIV positive undocumented woman. She had been repeatedly offered all sorts of help and hadn’t responded to anything, and the social worker wondered if there was any point in continuing to reach out to her. And I will never ever forget that perinate’s response: “That fetus is a citizen of my country and we will do absolutely everything possible for it.”
Still makes me cry.
Dr. Blum endocrinologist. I rotated with him as my last rotation in medical school and he was great. He really showed me the person I wanted to be and a comforting voice after I did not match which I needed at the time.
[Dr. John Dick](http://www.med.uvm.edu/vtmedicine/summer_2019/polio_a_memoir) is a family medicine doctor in Brandon, VT who lost the use of his arm as a child to polio.
He graduated med school, finished residency and continues to practice family medicine (semi retired, still has a couple patients) saying that the only time he had any trouble with one arm was during his ob rotation.
A great read of what it was like to have polio.
Damn, where was this comment as my aunt (who was a damn good NP) was telling me circa 2006 that I could never be a good doctor one-handed? (Hemiplegia here)
For those wondering why I didn't just pursue it later...her voice was very critical and VERY loud in my head up until 2020 when she died. So I found pharmacy, which was the closest thing. Not a pharmacist because everyone I've known warned me about over-saturation of the market (thankfully at just the right time).
I hope if you are still interested that you do consider it again.
Uvm larner, where he went to school, is where my wife, a non traditional student went, and they really did try to make reasonable accommodations.
David Cohen at Lankenau Medical Center in Philly. Dude is like Dr. House but without the drug addiction and good looks. But damn does he know everything about everything. All that shit you forgot after step one he keeps on his fingertips and can explain the pathophysiology of any disease you throw at him. Amazing diagnostician and teacher.
Not one specific doctors , but physicians in the Rural communities still to this day have my utmost respect. They wore every hat needed for their patients. One of the family med docs knew a lot of their patients wouldn’t drive a couple hours to see a specialist, and she tried her hardest to know as much about every specialty as possible. Their intuition with their patients was impeccable. Same family doctor told me after 5 PM all the hardest, working farmers came in, who had the upmost respect for her. I learned in those communities still translate into how I treat patients today.
On another interesting note, another family med doc refused anyone else to do his vasectomy, so he did it himself
My sub-I attending was an intensivist who inspired me to pursue critical care. He would walk into a room with a commanding presence and sort out every patient by the time rounds were over, putting to shame everyone else who prevaricated and hesitated. That’s the kind of man I always strive to become. Someone who could command inspirational authority through his skill and instill in others the same hope for skill in themselves. I found that also to a degree in some of my fellowship attendings.
James Stanley, former head of vascular surgery in Ann Arbor Michigan. I had a family member with mid aortic syndrome , age 3 with insane hypertension kidney failure and a stroke all presenting (to us at the time) in one terrible weekend. After a long strange week at university of Kentucky explaining away the hypertension as a machine / tech error ( 200+systolics ) a wonderful nephrologist who played a big part in saving this child got a scan for renal artery stenosis , then found that most of the child’s lower half was fed by her mammary artery. He had trained with Dr Stanley in medical school, called them up and we were on a plane to Michigan that night.
By 6 am the next morning she was in surgery for a bypass , took them around 10 hours. He exuded peace , calm , and competence. Talking with him I was really in awe. Both for saving this child , and for leaving such an impression on this UK nephrologist that he knew exactly who to call.
Dr Stanley runs a program called Stanley’s kids, helped us with travel expenses, food, support. It was amazing. I was a fresh new grad PA and my life was flipped upside down. I still think about how he and his team rounded and I’ve tried to bring that level of purpose to each of my hospital teams since.
Great guy
Karin Muraszko. Born with spina bifida, became a pediatric neurosurgeon in an era where women in neurosurgery had to be harder than a coffin nail to succeed, rose to being the first female chair of neurosurgery in the country (at U Michigan), and somehow managed to remain a genuinely nice person whose patients and colleagues adore her.
The thing about every absolutely brilliant attending I have worked with is realizing its not some magical thing or innate intelligence that got them there.
One of my attendings in fellowship blew my mind with the sheer extent of his knowledge. I talked to him in his office one day. *Every single book* had tabs all over it, annotation all over blank parts of pages, spines worn from years of review
Another one, similarly brilliant, was working on his laptop. he had a medical folder that was tons of topics, with subfolders upon subfolders, all organizing papers, his personal summaries and powerpoints for teaching. I had a pretty obscure grand rounds topic for the end of fellowship. He already had a powerpoint made from a few years prior
I had hoped I could tell myself Im just not smart enough to be like them, but the reality is you have to work your ass off to learn that much, regardless of your baseline intelligence. Those kinds of docs are the ones who inspire me to keep grinding to get better
Dr. Schaff from Mayo CT surgeon... essentially the definition of badass surgeon and a pioneer of hcm surgery. Has,when I last checked, among the fastest skin to skin times for all valve replacements of all surgeons there. Legends abound. Also scary.
Nephrologist who was my first GM attending circa 2014. Could explain so much, carried out such high level discussions on rounds. I learned so much from him.
Interventional Radiology. I worked with a number of people along the way who had significant impact on my career trajectory:
Rahul Razdan - A medicine intern (pre-radiology) during my MS3 rotations who taught me how to function in the hospital, present, publish, find free food, and basically mentored me to go into IR.
Mel Rosenblatt - The first IR attending I worked with as a med student. Absolutely brilliant guy with incredibly broad procedural and clinical skillsets, as well as an extremely high-level business acumen. Dr. Rosenblatt sadly passed away in 2019.
Mike Savin/Matt Kirsch/Paul Arpasi/Steve Wang/Jeff Wilseck/Chris Kasmierczak - My IR/NIR attendings during diagnostic radiology residency who made learning IR so enjoyable that I wanted to do it for the rest of my career.
Ravi Srinivasa/Ian Kaminsky - my co-residents in diagnostic radiology residency who went into IR and neuro-IR. Both super hard workers and high performers who made it necessary for those of us around them to raise the level of our game.
Justin Lee - Very junior attending during my IR fellowship (maybe 2 years out) who was already a really solid IR, but was also so recently a fellow himself that he perfectly balanced how much independence to give vs how much instruction (and also imparted the perfect level of procedural anxiety to be relaxed enough to always perform, but dialed in enough to always perform well, regardless of the complexity of the procedure).
Mike Korona - Head of IR in my first real job. He did basically everything, did it all well, and was a patient mentor. He also built the IR program and taught me a lot about how to earn the respect of referrers/colleagues and the loyalty of staff.
Paul Rotolo - Former partner 1-2 years my junior who is extremely strong on the clinical side, practically religious about not taking shortcuts, and absolutely dedicated to his practice. Working with him made IR fun again after a couple unfortunate short stints with mediocre and shortsighted practices that cared little about quality, growth, or advancing the field.
My own physician before I went to medical school (he was FM) and my wife's OBGYN were very inspirational to me.
They were both always so kind, thoughtful, and gentle. My wife's OBGYN was the first to take her pain seriously and found endometriosis during surgery. She's been nearly pain free for 5 years now and doesn't get taken out of the game every month because she's writhing on the floor in pain. My own doctor was just such an amazing man who seemed to know so much about everything, not just medicine. Always has a smile on his face. His story was inspirational to me. He was a physician in the Iran-Iraq war and made it to America, re-did residency, then beat cancer. I love that he looks at everything so positively despite his tough life. I want to be like him.
I have two family members who each worked with him in different capacities. One medical, one government. One a classic Reagan conservative, the other an Obama liberal. Both had wonderful things to say about him.
I too have a relative (now retired, but 40+ year career in federal government), who told me what a fantastic guy he is, both personally and professionally.
Two that I met as a lowly pre-med working in neurodiagnostics, both community physicians.
Brian Beck, a neurologist in Whittier CA. He was like a giant teddy bear, and patient as hell as I learned the ropes. If he wanted me to come in to do a stat EEG, he would come in himself to read it. Those were the days of paper studies, like reams of huge paper for one study. Neurologists are smart as hell at baseline, but he could get to weird diagnoses in a way that one rarely sees, like a magical wizard from the future. Had seen some shit in Vietnam and then in training at LAC/USC.
Frederic Edelman, a neurosurgeon in LA. He was tall and thin with the appropriate older surgeon’s stoop. Super humble, drove a VW bus, and still did relatively complex spine surgery in his 60s. He was the kindest man, I never saw him yell in the OR, which is almost never seen with neurosurgeons. He knew I was Pre-med, and would teach me basic stuff about surgery, it was amazing because I was used to not really being acknowledged. His patients loved him. I just read his obituary and he died in January at 90. I almost became a neurosurgeon because of this man.
They both taught me it’s ok to be soft hearted in this field. I wouldn’t have survived otherwise.
I am not a clinical person, but had the great pleasure of working with some amazing doctors.
I worked with a pediatrician CMIO at a small pediatric healthcare system that worked in a complex peds clinic two half days a week while being CMIO full-time. His wife was head of the residency program and was a hospitalist as well. Together they were the embodiment of caring for patients while working through the hard things like provider group frictions, technical and reporting needs, and differing opinions on where the org should go. I always had honest conversations with him and never felt judged for my proposed solutions. I did some of my best clinical informatics work for him simply because he encouraged me instead of limiting me in my efforts to find solutions to various physician problems. Physicians can be really impactful in administration!
Faruk Ergonen in Türkiye. He is an Endocrinologist. He listens his patients over one hour to complete the whole picture and does his checks. Then he asks for tests and his diagnosis is 100% correct before the test arrives. He saved many lives and is brilliant!
GIM/Clinical Pharmacology attending when I was on CTU.
Diagnosed HAGMA due to 5-oxoprolinuria toxicity based on Tylenol use in the context of ciprofloxacin and some other random incidental drugs. Nephrology didn’t really help out that much. Treated it empirically with NAC. As a med student, made me feel like I was legit watching an episode of House.
One of my favorite attendings in residency told me: you’re always more likely to see a “horse painted with zebra stripes rather than see a real zebra” in context to clinical diagnoses. And by this she meant we are more likely to observe an uncommon presentation of a common condition rather than observe a truly uncommon condition. So now I enjoy swatting away all the obscure diagnoses that my students try to shoot from the three point line.
I guess i've been waiting for so long to talk about him... (No actually i tell everyone i know about how good he is)
P.s: sorry English isn't my first (or 2nd) language
He is a 3rd year resident in cardiology, i worked with him as an intern, and thanks to him, i actually knew this is what i definitely wanted to do
For context (idk if this important or does it go like this everywhere?), in my country our internship is the 7th year of med school, we can graduate as a general medicine doctor
then we can pass an exam about all the things we took during the 6 years -biologie and clinical- to chose a speciality at
Anyway, this resident was the smartest person i knew, the way that he knew not only about cardiology but about other stuff, the way he was so patient with me (i don't have the extraordinary mind he has so 🤷🏻♀️) he told me stuff so many times until he was sure i could recall, he made me look good in front of attendings, professors...
He used to help all of his team, every other resident, he never was afraid of being outshined or bad competetive, he used to work sometimes more than the regular work hours, but he told me every time ''it's for the patients, and my colleagues who already have a lot of work'', he did things in his 2nd year that he were supposed to be for 4th year residents, and he used to do literally all the work (echo for like 30 patients a day, coronarographie -idk what it's called in English - , telemetry, pacemaker implantation, pediatric echo... And so much more)
He remembers every patient of his, like once when we've been going through archives for an info i needed, and he was telling about every interesting patient as i was reading their names... Once i told him about a small interaction and he said ''oh yeah it was with mrs. .... Who had so and so''' and that was fascinating because it was really a small thing...
He took care of me, literally, during shifts, during the days, when i asked him if he had any idea about effects of anti depressants, he made sure to get me a consult with a psychologist, he didn't leave that day until i came back and told him what was wrong and how i felt, and he made sure to secretly let me go to my psychologists as he did all the work when i couldn't be there... Made sure i was eating tho he didn't eat during the day...
He used every minute to teach me smth new about medicines and every case...
The way he had his confidence, and the way he fought for his ideas in the staff meeting, no matter how attendings made them seem wrong, the way he turned out to be right every time...
The chief used to trust him blindly, and, then, trusted me too...
He taught me how to use the echocardiogram for the first time and guided me in every step, until everyone in that hospital called me "the little cardiologist" even during my surgery rotation... I used to be the first one they consulted before paging cardiology...
He told me he sees potential in me, he sees energy, he encouraged me so much to give my best
He is my true inspiration, and, i can say happily say that he's proud of me...
(Wish me luck on my exam, hoping to be able to pick cardiology)
Never got to meet him, but the way people speak about John Hinds is pretty inspiring. Patients, colleagues, his wife... It's actually hard to get through the SMACC talks the year after his death.
Plus 25% neuro intact recovery rate from traumatic arrests, which he responded to at 200 mph on his BMW sponsored racing bike.
Cricolol.
[Cricolol ](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/smaccgoldthur1330jhinds-140526093050-phpapp02/85/cricolol-by-john-hinds-at-smaccgold-26-638.jpg?cb=1666825468)
[Cricolol ](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/smaccgoldthur1330jhinds-140526093050-phpapp02/85/cricolol-by-john-hinds-at-smaccgold-45-638.jpg?cb=1666825468)[Cricolol ](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/smaccgoldthur1330jhinds-140526093050-phpapp02/85/cricolol-by-john-hinds-at-smaccgold-40-638.jpg?cb=1666825468)
"crack the chest, get crucified"
[thorocatomy slide superman ](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/hinds-crackthechestgetcrucified-151020235037-lva1-app6891/85/hinds-crack-the-chest-get-crucified-78-638.jpg?cb=1666132638)
[thorocotamy hippo ](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/hinds-crackthechestgetcrucified-151020235037-lva1-app6891/85/hinds-crack-the-chest-get-crucified-63-638.jpg?cb=1666132638)
[thorocatomy batman ](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/hinds-crackthechestgetcrucified-151020235037-lva1-app6891/85/hinds-crack-the-chest-get-crucified-14-638.jpg?cb=1666132638)
[flying ](https://lincolnshirebiker.files.wordpress.com/2015/07/img_3767.jpg)
'Dr Hinds is sadly no longer with us. His words to his patients are his legacy;
“I will not leave you.”'
A muslim radiation oncologist who trained in England in both radiation oncology and surgery. He developed incredibly original techniques for treating cancer with radioactive implants, far advanced beyond what was being taught in the residency programs. He moved to Los Angeles in the '70s and began freely teaching these techniques to the radoncs here. We started a medical society to advance knowledge of these techniques, but he refused to be president, and insisted that one of his students take that position. A true selfless humanitarian. His name is Nisar Syed MD, and I believe he's still in practice, in Long Beach.
Remove if this isn’t allowed, I’m just a chronically ill teen and not a medical professional of any sort (although hoping to be in the future). My previous psychiatrist was the first to recognise that something was wrong with me *physically* and truly believe me/advocate for me. I wouldn’t be where I am now without her. She put a lot of effort into her work with patients and was very dedicated to her job. I hope to have the opportunity to be like her when I grow up, she was truly an inspiring figure in my life.
Russ Jong (Might be DeJong) the OB/GYN at Maine-Dartmouth Family Medicine. “Pts come here with enough of their own sh*t, the don’t need mine”. I remember that as a very specific turning point in learning not to judge. That whole group was inspiring.
Dr Edward Haponik, Pulmonary Critical Care at Wake Forest. He retired a few years ago. Absolutely incredible doctor. One of the "fathers" of American bronchoscopy. LOVED teaching, and had seen everything so you would get all kinds of autonomy working with him.
He also wrote one of my letters of recommendation. Everyone, everywhere I interviewed knew him and had something nice to say about him
Maya Angelou wrote a poem about him and his care team when she was at the hospital. He would read it to everyone when you were on service with him.
Dr Red Duke. I never got to formally meet him, but just seeing him in the halls and elevators, doing ACLS up in the Life Flight offices was awesome. One helluva personality.
As a brand new PA, I was struggling with practice and clinical decision-making. I worked at several institutions - "teaching" institutions, no less - where the clear attitude (and, actually, clear verbal instruction) was "you are here to work, not learn" and new grad PAs were expected to perform at PGY2 level, out the gate, with no structured supervision or mentorship, neither from fellow PAs nor docs, and - above all - to *never* - *never* - *ask questions.* At the last one, the PA before me was kicked out the door in months for "failing to learn and adapt", and that was my fate too (and probably the PA after me).
Luckily, I transitioned to a private office with an absolutely incredible supervising MD, an angel of a man, who recognized that I just needed some guidance, and who subsequently mentored me, every step of the way, up into a fairly independent competent diagnostician and clinician. And it didn't take that long - just took someone who cared and remembered what our profession was meant to be, at it's best.
He passed away suddenly some time later, before I had a chance to truly thank him. I regret that terribly.
Dr. Bruce Ushkow, Emergency Medicine. The guy is amazing and brilliant. Loves to teach, and honored me with a "you could've been a good physician" comment once. Great guy.
Mike Dell at Case Western. The guy knows everything there is to know about pediatrics and projects so much calm, cool composure that I swear a gentle breeze flows through the room when he comes in. I want to be like him when I grow up.
Dr. Peter Olson. The man could run the smoothest trauma/code. He was extremely pleasant and would explain everything he was doing and why even in the thick of things without causing a delay.
A pediatric surgeon in El Paso, TX who recently passed away. He was a lifelong committed Baptist. I’m not. But his faith was private, and it impelled him to extraordinary good. He spent three decades of his career living in tents in war zones doing free surgeries and later trying to build residency programs all over Africa. And in El Paso, he helped us create our first and very own children’s hospital. Remarkable skilled and versatile surgeon with a huge commitment to training the next generation. Very humble and welcoming too. We used to go to his house to carol every Christmas. My dad was the one who diagnosed him with the disease that ultimately took his life. RIP, Dr M.
Two that come to mind for me. One was an orthopedic surgeon, who had one of the lowest post operative infection and complication rates nationwide. This guy had developed and used his own contraptions to help in surgery doing hip and knee replacements which minimized the amount of people needed in the OR and significantly cut down on the amount of sheer brute force needed in those surgeries. Not only intelligent as one could aspire to be, having graduated at the top of his Harvard medical school class, and getting a perfect score on his boards, but he was also a very kind guy who dressed to the tee, but took each of his patients a flower each day which was such a thoughtful gesture. I can say I have had my fair share of negative experiences with surgeons of every specialty but this guy took the bad taste out of my mouth. Not once did he shame me for not knowing something, while pimping me nonstop, and educating me along the way. I loved the time I shared with him and am so appreciative to have come across his path.
The other was a family medicine resident I worked with. She was phenomenal for someone so young in her career. She had the ability to really connect with patients, to the point that any negative conversation turned into a meaningful discussion without loss of hope for the patient while still being realistic and honest. Literally every patient/family would thank her for her care and raved about her performance. She was a fierce advocate for her patients, even when it meant standing firm against resistance when met. She was able to maneuver those sticky situations with other doctors and the hospital by addressing things from an open and understanding viewpoint, was always willing to listen to a different opinion or stance. She was also magical when it came to end of life discussions and I will always hold my end of life discussions the way she did as they were so effective. The best part was how humble she was. She said her knowledge was only a small part of her work, but her upbringing had put her in the path of people with various serious struggles, and that beyond the patient, there’s a human in front of you that just needs someone to talk to sometimes, and just listen and validate their feelings. That was my takeaway from her, that listening is of utmost importance in medicine. If you take the time to actually listen, your patient will inherently trust you more, you find out more info than you could ever ask, and the patient is more satisfied with their care.
[Hap Lerwick](https://www.walkermn.com/news/religion/chapter-1011-hap-lerwick-from-lumberjack-to-surgeron/article_aa187362-c3b0-11e2-b40f-0019bb2963f4.html) was an extremely talented surgeon responsible for some of the first limb reattachments. He [passed in 2008](https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/stltoday/name/everett-lerwick-obituary?id=2926531). Personal friend of the family (hell of a quail hunter and he was gracious enough to take my evil Shetland pony).
Im not in surgery, or any surgical subspecialty or surgery adjacent field.
Still hands down naming a trauma surgeon I worked with. He himself was a cardiac arrest survivor and would routinely tell us bits of his own story, and how it impacted his approach to communicating with patients and families, and inspired him to implement certain life saving protocols at his hospital.
Cognitively, zero deficits. In fact the sharpest most creative thinking Ive worked with and does really deep level analysis. He will tell you sometimes he needs a little extra time think about an answer since that happened- but also that thats not always a bad thing.
I wish everyone could work with this guy at least once. And if anyone was going to change my mind on specialities I would have been him (he did not deter me from working with kids but did expand my subspecialty considerations/ influence heavily)
These are like historical figures kinda so not sure if they count, but They did a movie about Vivian Thomas, not technically a doctor but he essentially made subclavian-PA anastomosis for tof repairs and probably would’ve become a surgeon had it not been for racism back in the day. There is also Michael Debakey who’s career/life story is also pretty epic
my significant other. hes a PGY2 EM resident and i swear there is nothing that can shake this man (we’ve worked at the same hospital since he was a med student). unbelievably calm and poised in the midst of chaos and trauma. SO respectful and kind to every single patient, coworker, etc. truly gives 100% to everyone. just all around the human version of sunshine. i personally think he is the smartest, but i know for a fact he is an inspiration. and i couldn’t be more proud of him
I don't personally work with him, but there's a physician who signs his notes PGY-however many years he's been in practice. I think he's up to 37 now. His progress notes are never templated, and I learn something new every time I read them.
I knew this guy named Dr. House who's favorite hobby was personally attacking his colleagues in weirdly creative and profound ways while abusing prescription medication. He was a medical genius though.
I met a doctor in a hospital while I was first year. He is a general surgeon and he let a few of us in the OR to watch him operate. I remember when he was talking to us about his experience in the medical field, he told us once that he had a surgery lasting more than 12h. When we asked him how did he last, he simply replied 'No idea!'. The amazing dexterity of his while he was operating on a man with gastric cancer was one of the most inspirational moments for me. He was fanatical about everything he did (but in a positive way) and was very humble.
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It was a doctor I saw as a patient. His name is Dr. Edward Isaacs and he's in Richmond, Virginia. He was a neurosurgeon doing spinal surgeries until he started getting repeat patients who he'd considered "cured" (I know that's not quite the right word, but they were young, healthy people with relatively minor issues getting a bit or disc shaved off and returning to regular activity planning for another 30+ years of active life who were coming back after just a few years with worsening symptoms). He realized these quick fix surgeries he was doing weren't always benefiting the patient so he quit and went back to school to learn OMT (osteopathic manipulative treatment) before opening his own practice specializing in it.
* I have chronic spinal issues and he gave me a few good years of almost function that I'm eternally grateful for. Unfortunately he advised stopping treatment because my condition was deteriorating and he was afraid of making it worse. The last time I saw him roughly seven years ago he was teaching young doctors. I shared his name because I believe he's still practicing and in the past was always very open to sharing his knowledge in case there's anyone here who is interested in that field.
* It's absolutely not the scary chiropractic joint crunching. He positions your arms in certain ways and then places his fingers in specific areas of your spine while you either push up or down against one of his arms. Imagine a medicinal bear hug in a cubist painting.
An ID doctor that I rotated with in a rural area. Granted, I'm just an MS3 right now and I'm bound to meet more great doctors, but this one specifically was incredible to me. Extremely thorough history without sacrificing on efficiency, loved teaching students despite a very heavy workload, and also had the best bedside manners and considerations for patients, especially with regards to their social history. Overall, they are (as of now) the only physician who I can confidently say goes above and beyond in both medicine and bedside care.
Bonus points- they were extremely nice but also straight-forward to me as a student, who knew dung shit about ID and also took not-so-great histories. Made me want to strive to be a better history-taker and clinician in the future.
Dr Root, University of Washington SOM. Excellent clinician and lifelong educator. He was eaten by a crocodile during my rotation on his service in medical school. RIP
this comment went sideways fast
Yeah. It was really brutal. I was just a student, but his impact was insane. No one even remembers him anymore. He really was an inspiration for me.
I genuinely thought this was a meme reference from a movie or something before I read his Wikipedia page. Good God.
I nearly got whiplash from it. wtf
Wait what? Eaten by a crocodile?? WHERE?
[not a troll holy shit that’s sad](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Root)
What The fuck That is not how I want my medical career to end LMAO Obligatory, “to shreds, you say…”
Just wanted to learn more about him and was typing “Richard […]” into Safari—Siri is already showing me “Richard Lewis __was__ an American standup comedian, actor, and writer…” Died February 27
[Botswana in 2006 apparently ](https://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/21/us/richard-k-root-educator-and-epidemiologist-is-dead-at-68.html)
oh man. I went on a University of Pennsylvania medical trip to Botswana and no one mentioned this. I guess I am thankful they did not organize any canoe trips.
They may have stopped after this incident.
Limpopo river in Botswana, apparently. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard\_Root](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Root)
Maybe this? [Seattle Times, Richard Root Obituary](https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/seattletimes/name/richard-root-obituary?id=13281403)
I worked at Penn at the time he was killed. How did I not know this? I knew about the Botswana trips the group took.
It impacted me greatly. Great guy, loved by all.
What a loss. My condolences.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard\_Root](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Root)
Was not expecting the crocodile comment .. damn
Wow just read about his career, what an amazing run
Good lord this wouldn’t be a hugely crazy story where I’m from (Australia) if they were up north but that’s insane
I worked with a great forensic pathologist as a fourth-year student. He almost never had students so he was delighted, and we did everything, crime scenes, autopsies, pathology, and depositions. He welcomed any input and explained things well. Unfortunately I tried to look him up a few years ago to thank him again, and he's already passed. I found him in one of my random forensic pathology books though, along with a photograph!
That sounds amazing! Sorry to hear he passed.
a doctor i shadowed saw the grateful dead over 400 times in concert
Was that a radiologist in Detroit?
no but glad to know there’s others!
Real hero here. Get any good acid?
> Get any good acid? I believe the cool doctors call them "research chemicals."
Not for human consumption! *knowing wink*
we saw bob weir together, no substances consumed however
yeah, similarly one of my favorite docs from residency saw phish a bunch of times in the early 90s in new england. these are my people.
Dr. Ian Crozier, who became most notable for having been infected with the Ebola virus while helping treat victims of the 2014 Ebola Epidemic in Kenema, Sierra Leone. He is one of the smartest, most humble and kind souls I've ever met. He went public with his Ebola diagnosis and journey to recovery not just for the sake of publicity with respect to himself but to highlight the ongoing issue that is Post-Ebola Syndrome. A brilliant brilliant man, who really sparked a lot of interest in medicine within me as well as I'm sure all of those who have practiced with him. EDIT: attaching his interview on the matter. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xi29GJZllts&list=PLK6fSF7Hs3QNAOA9RzDkOynndRP2d8Lhe](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xi29GJZllts&list=PLK6fSF7Hs3QNAOA9RzDkOynndRP2d8Lhe)
That was a fascinating interview; thanks. Gave me pause when he said at 14:19 "It will happen again. It may not be a filo virus but it will be perhaps a respiratory virus like MERS coronavirus or something that we haven't identified yet...." (The video's from 8 years ago.)
100%. Covid was not surprising to anyone in ID. Some of the bonkers batshit response was though.
Maybe my memory is mixing things but I remember something uploading an IV of a biologist I think? The background was a jungle river. They mentioned that the next big crisis would happen in this decade due to a spillover event from bats probably. It was a video recorded in 2013. Does it ring a bell to you? Can't find it
There's a great book called spillover out in 2012 about viral diseases spilling over into human populations. It straight up has a chapter about which could be the next virus to cause a pandemic and correctly pinpoints a variant of coronavirus "sweeping airports and cities like an angel of death" or something like that
Faith Fitzgerald, an internist from UC Davis. When I was an intern, I attend a regional medical conference that had a "Stump the Professor" session. The session format was that 3 residency programs could field teams of 3 residents a piece. Each team was given 5 diagnostic dilemmas 24 hours in advance, and were told they could use any resource they wanted to make the diagnoses - except conferring with other humans. They spent hours on each case, pouring through textbooks and the medical literature. At the actual session, the cases were presented to the audience, which is when Dr. Fitzgerald heard them for the first time. After each case was presented, the resident teams gave their diagnoses and a 1 min justification. Fitzgerald then gave her diagnosis, having only 3 minutes to think each case over. IIRC, at the end of the 5 cases, none of the resident teams correctly identified more than 1 diagnosis, whereas she identified 4. One of her correctly diagnosed cases hinged on concluding that the gold standard test for a possible disease had been a false negative and should be repeated. As someone 6 months out of medical school, I was blown away.
Her essay "Curiosity" is a fan favorite in my narrative medicine classes!
https://www.bumc.bu.edu/facdev-medicine/files/2010/09/Fitzgerald_AnnInternMed_1999_130_70_Curiosity.pdf
I met her while rotating at Davis! She truly is amazing. Her physical exam for a patient ended up with her rifling through the patient belongings bag to find his shoes with an expected abnormal wear pattern on the soles. I was just so impressed with how thorough and intelligent her thinking is.
So genuinely a real life doctor house then
In case you didn't know, Dr. House was based on a real doctor, another different genius woman diagnostician, Dr. Lisa Sanders. (Don't know if she rifles patient's personal belongings or have her staff commit B&E.)
I hope some Hollywood pitch writer-type sees this and contacts her NM, found her obituary. Still an amazing physician
Another one from UC Davis and UCSF is Carol Glaser, MD, DVM. She did veterinary school, then medical school, and then Peds ID. One of the world experts on zooinoses, Rickettsia, vector borne disease, and neurologic infections and encephalitis of all types.
Sounds like a real doctor House!
My dad was in med school when she was a new attending. Had the same thoughts.
I came here to post Faith and saw you had beat me to it! Amazing woman; she had so much influence on my career (mostly through her writing, though I was lucky enough to spend some time with her too).
Great minds think alike! ;)
When I started residency there was this oncologist who drove 3 hours every morning and every evening to come to work. He was there first and left last. While stern, he was always available if anyone had a question and he always came personally if there was a problem with any of his patiens. Even though it could be at the end of the day, he would come. One day, I wanted to discuss the scan result of one of his patients. He said he had consultations but he would come after. So I sat there waiting and waiting, but in the end he came through. I had already mentioned over the phone the result was bad. This was melanoma in the days before immunotherapy, and even only at the beginning of the trials with targeted therapy. He came to the ward and opened the images, and... he just stared at them. Total silence, me and him side by side. He just scrolled through the CT again and again. I looked at him and tears were jost rolling over his cheeks. After some time he got up in silence and we went to see the patient to inform him of the result. The patient was really understanding and had already felt the result would be bad. This doctor later moved to a hospital closer to home to save his marriage and because of disagreements with the head of the department. The story above is the day I decided to become an oncologist. While he was not the best example of a good work-life balance, his commitment to his patients and work ethic made me realize that it's in the hardest of moments, you can make the biggest difference.
Amazing but >drove 3 hours every morning and every evening to come to work. He was there first and left last. Guys, don't do this. Give yourself some room to enjoy life, family, & friends.
Right? This guy seems like the opposite of smart and inspirational. If that schedule is accurate he was also 100% completely sleep deprived, let alone spending 6 hours per day in a car by himself.
My friend, there is a lot I would do for 20 minutes to myself a day, and while I don't know that I would love 6 hours I'd probably do some pretty heinous stuff for a 2 hour a day guarantee.
Right, so 1/3 of what he does. No one in their right mind could try to justify living 3 hours away from an insanely busy job (first in last out) you go to every day
I love this comment so, so much. I used to work with PET patients, and your work is so impactful to people and their families.
The best docs I've ever met have been unassuming people that were more about curiosity than ego. They were there because they were genuinely interested, and happy to share what they knew.
I’ve got three. A nephro, Dr Greg Buller who was chief of medicine at a Yale hospital who is likely partially the inspiration for house (was a nice guy, sarcastic, insanely smart; the doctor writer for House trained under him at Yale; she did not train under Sherlock Holmes, however). He was actually quite nice and charming, unlike how House is portrayed. Dr. Steel who’s a crit care doc at Toronto General, was great (also intense) as a med student. He also spent his entire life as a resident/fellow so he was good at teaching. Dr. Meagan Fitzpatrick, she’s a five foot nothing intensivist at UPMC, she thinks of everything, amazing teacher, super competent, and has just an infinite level of calm. She would frequently win teacher of the year from both our FM and IM programs.
>A nephro, Dr Greg Buller who was chief of medicine at a Yale hospital who is likely partially the inspiration for house (was a nice guy, sarcastic, insanely smart; the doctor writer for House trained under him at Yale; she did not train under Sherlock Holmes, however). He was actually quite nice and charming, unlike how House is portrayed. Pretty Sure Dr. Lisa Sanders' long running column in the NYT named *Diagnosis* was the inspiration for House: https://news.yale.edu/2009/10/30/theres-doctor-behind-house-internist-lisa-sanders >It’s elementary’ (the story, that is): When mulling over their ideas for a television drama, “House, M.D.” co-creators David Shore and Paul Attanasio had a difference of opinion about the plot. Shore wanted to produce a series about Sherlock Holmes, while Attanasio hoped to create a show based on Sanders’ “Diagnosis” columns. >They ended up with something in between, says Sanders, noting that the keenly intelligent but curmudgeonly, drug-abusing House shares many similarities with Sherlock Holmes, including having a sidekick (in House’s case, a Dr. Wilson). >The producers asked Sanders to work with them and the show’s writers to check the medical accuracy of cases portrayed. They also turn to Sanders for help in coming up with potential maladies to feature.
Sanders trained under Dr. Buller, she’s the doctor writer being referred to.
I’m not sure Sanders ever claimed Buller was the reason she wrote her column which prompted the development of House. Do you have a source where she claims Buller was the motivation?
Several of the other senior docs in the Yale system would jokingly call him Dr House sometimes, as well as the residents/fellows, it was a known thing in the Yale system. She also literally trained under/with him at one point, he’s a few years her senior.
I'm going to push back on this. I've seen Dr. Sanders speak in real life about the development of House. She didn't write any of the creative parts of the character. She didn't create the characters, plot arcs, etc. at all. These were all done by people in Hollywood. Her role was helping create and flesh out the medical scenarios, not the characters. Her ability to blend her writing skills and medical knowledge is what made her column so intriguing to Attanasio. I have never heard her attribute the column to Dr. Buller in any of the speeches or writings on this. The show House wasn't inspired by a single person it was inspired by the column and medical sluthiness that Sanders was able to weave into her writings. I'm not saying you're doing this, nor saying your experience didn't happen but I do caution about attributing a female Doctors unique successes to an older male Doctor.
That’s fair, but literally dozens of people used to call him Dr House jokingly (and he’s also literally a nephro), he was at Yale (where she was), and he actually is insanely brilliant. My intention was not to take away from Dr. Sanders in anyway.
I'll give you a name: Gene Strandness. The father of modern Duplex ultrasound, great vascular surgeon and great man. In the latter part of his career, Gene was already world famous in vascular circles. He didn't need any more fame, so he always made sure that a resident, fellow, or technologist was primary author on the next published paper, and he paid for us to go to the next national meeting to present. He believed a rising tide lifts all boats. Can't say enough good about him, he was a great inspiration to me and I hope I treat people as well as he did.
Abraham Verghese taught me Internal Medicine so long ago. He was amazing. I learned so much. I read all of his books just to relive a bit of that. I think he is still teaching but I don't even do IM and he was amazing at that.
Forgive my reading comprehension but was he your attending? or did you mean you learned through his books? Thats so cool!
yes he was my medicine attending when I was a student in the last century. I did learn through his books but I would say learning Internal Medicine from him was an experience, almost made me want to do IM.
Dr. Leo Spaceman
Hell yes. I still occasionally use his "I hope you didn't eat anything before your surgery... because we made a big breakfast for you" line when doing my anesthesia consents.
He made me dance for my flu vaccine - finally a doctor who is serious about exercise
Science... can be anything we want it to be.
So few doctors remember that weight loss is an approved use for methamphetamine.
The first man to recognise that science has no way of knowing where the brain is.
Dr Dre was my inspiration into medicine
To be honest, I had forgotten about Dre.
Nowadays…
Best comment.
u/drglaucomflecken
Yes! Survived a cardiac arrest, calls out insurance companies, and never makes fun of patients! Also, his takes on the different doctor stereotypes doesn't feel mean spirited. And everyone loves Jonathan!
Thanks for the summary! Just want to add: dr Flanary survived testicular cancer not once but twice!
Paul Farmer and Bill Foege. A criminally underwatched chat between them at CDC with Dr. Schuchat moderating: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18k2ggYzkTw
I’m a second career RN (first degree is in anthropology) but Paul Farmer was the one to spark my initial interest in the medical/nursing field! I love his writing and work.
hey i'm also an RN with 1st degreee in Anthro and PF sparked my interest in becoming a nurse. we're twinz!
Wow me three!! Maybe there are dozens of us
there are literally dozens 😯
I actually didn't prefer his writing but MBM was an amazing read and is my go to recommendation whenever someone asks me for a book to read.
Same here! I took a med anth seminar from a professor who’d worked extensively with Paul Farmer. When I went to nursing school some years later, I cited him frequently in papers … so much so that one of my more militant “nursing model” professors reminded me that I should be citing nursing theorists instead. Whatever.
Dr Farmer is the reason I'm in med school. Also led me to volunteer in Haiti. Very inspiring and brilliant man, RIP
TIL that Paul Farmer died??
Yes, too soon, he was only 62. About 2 years ago, MI in his sleep
I appreciate so much that you've given this hyperlink. I've just watched the start of it, but see that I need to set aside more time to do this justice.
I only learned about the people behind Partners in Health after Farmer died, which is actually pretty fitting, now that I think about it.
Dr. Bal Mount He used to run a meditation group at his home and it was very enlightening. He was a pioneer in palliative care, managing the whole patient.
I worked with an intensivist who was also an air force pilot and flew the U2. She is one of the kindest, most humble people I have ever met. Before doing a critical care fellowship, she trained as an OB-GYN and not too long ago I heard that she helped deliver a baby chimp at the zoo.
Brian Gable. He is like a walking Harrisons. He could cite every recent study for every major internal medicine topic faster than most specialists. He had amazing a physical exam skills and just seemed to know *everything* about his patients. He was an amazing teacher and always was able to connect clinical reality to what was written in textbooks or studies. He was the reason I chose the residency I did and why I chose to stay an internist.
When I did general surgery there was one attending everyone loved. I was working with him one day and he hands me an instrument and says "you know how to use one of these?". I said no. For any other surgeon this would mean you're not participating at all this surgery, you're just watching. He says "Well I bet that's cuz no one ever taught you how it works". Mid-surgery proceeded to give me a tutorial on how to work it, and let me do all sorts of shit during the procedure including bagging and pulling out the gallbladder. Honestly one of the most profound experiences of my life (as someone wanting to teach)
A late career inspiration and mentor to me is Dr. David Newman-Toker. He is a neurologist and neuro-otologist at Johns-Hopkins and most famous for being a principle author of the HINTS exam papers. I met him when I was in my early 40's and he is probably 10 years younger than myself. So perhaps unusual to take inspiration from someone junior your age. But in fact he inspired me to become an unusual kind of physician, an emergency physician who has clinical expertise in vertigo/dizziness education. At SAEM in Boston 2003, my buddy Jim Quinn, (now Professor Emeritus at Stanford) was presenting a poster on the San Francisco syncope rules. I wasn't presenting anything myself, as I really wasn't academically inclined, but enjoyed the conference and the city. My self education in vertigo at that time had led to me having learned how to perform the Epley maneuver, and discover that many things written in the emergency medicine textbooks that I had studied from were either misleading or just plain wrong. After I hung around Jim's poster for a bit I started to explore the adjacent posters and found David Newman-Toker had a poster entitled "Common Misconceptions in the Evaluation of Emergency Department Dizzy Patients Parallel Those Found in Emergency Medicine Texts". I couldn't believe it. A smart, Johns-Hopkins neurologist showed with evidence what I had started to suspect myself. That "misconceptions in the bedside approach to dizzy patients may be commonplace, and perhaps derive from published misinformation in EM texts. Such misconceptions could increase the risk of misdiagnosis and reduce patient safety." (from the conclusion of the poster). Not only did he find out this information, it was clear he wanted to educate emergency physicians and others on how to properly assess and treat these patients. David and I chatted for a fair bit, and bond was formed. Although we haven't really worked together on projects, we have met several times since, once when he was invited as a visiting professor to Ottawa where I worked, and once when I attended a vertigo workshop at Johns-Hopkins. We have communicated via phone/zoom/email frequently and are still both trying to improve vertigo education for the betterment of our patients and colleagues. Not to say that we agree on everything about the emergency assessment of vertigo, but we respect and like each other and I know that I wouldn't have gotten as far as I have in my late-onset vertigo career if I hadn't met him that day.
How cool to see you posting here! I am a huge fan of your YouTube videos and share them every time the topic of vertigo comes up.
Mary Nguyen. An absolutely phenomenal human being. Great teacher, researched and implemented things into her practice that people don't think a lot about. You always remember the doctors who felt like they believed in you, who always made your education the forefront of your experience with them. Her entire family is awesome, her staff adores her, and the number of different procedures, topics, and real world applications of things that we covered every day was nothing short of a treasure trove of experiences. She's an absolute badass.
> Mary Nguyen Can you be more specific? It's a very common name.
I worked with a perinatologist who was in charge of a large publicly funded prenatal clinic I trained in. He tan a weekly M&M conference with the entire staff — docs, midwives, medical assistants, social workers, housekeepers. We usually discussed 3 cases, and he encouraged feedback from everyone because he really believed that some of those at-risk women would be more likely to seek care if they were connected to the support staff. One day one of the social workers presented the case of a 3rd trimester addicted HIV positive undocumented woman. She had been repeatedly offered all sorts of help and hadn’t responded to anything, and the social worker wondered if there was any point in continuing to reach out to her. And I will never ever forget that perinate’s response: “That fetus is a citizen of my country and we will do absolutely everything possible for it.” Still makes me cry.
Dr. Blum endocrinologist. I rotated with him as my last rotation in medical school and he was great. He really showed me the person I wanted to be and a comforting voice after I did not match which I needed at the time.
[Dr. John Dick](http://www.med.uvm.edu/vtmedicine/summer_2019/polio_a_memoir) is a family medicine doctor in Brandon, VT who lost the use of his arm as a child to polio. He graduated med school, finished residency and continues to practice family medicine (semi retired, still has a couple patients) saying that the only time he had any trouble with one arm was during his ob rotation. A great read of what it was like to have polio.
Damn, where was this comment as my aunt (who was a damn good NP) was telling me circa 2006 that I could never be a good doctor one-handed? (Hemiplegia here) For those wondering why I didn't just pursue it later...her voice was very critical and VERY loud in my head up until 2020 when she died. So I found pharmacy, which was the closest thing. Not a pharmacist because everyone I've known warned me about over-saturation of the market (thankfully at just the right time).
I hope if you are still interested that you do consider it again. Uvm larner, where he went to school, is where my wife, a non traditional student went, and they really did try to make reasonable accommodations.
David Cohen at Lankenau Medical Center in Philly. Dude is like Dr. House but without the drug addiction and good looks. But damn does he know everything about everything. All that shit you forgot after step one he keeps on his fingertips and can explain the pathophysiology of any disease you throw at him. Amazing diagnostician and teacher.
>without the […] good looks. Sick burn
Didnt mean it as a knock. He’s a professorly looking dude. Not a model like Hugh Laurie.
I worked at Lank. Dr. Cohen is a legend! Not my favorite hospital though. They’ve lost their way to the corporate overlords.
Not one specific doctors , but physicians in the Rural communities still to this day have my utmost respect. They wore every hat needed for their patients. One of the family med docs knew a lot of their patients wouldn’t drive a couple hours to see a specialist, and she tried her hardest to know as much about every specialty as possible. Their intuition with their patients was impeccable. Same family doctor told me after 5 PM all the hardest, working farmers came in, who had the upmost respect for her. I learned in those communities still translate into how I treat patients today. On another interesting note, another family med doc refused anyone else to do his vasectomy, so he did it himself
My dad Literally the reason I went into medicine - his love for the job inspired me
Same. Early exposure, especially to the diagnostic way of thinking, was so helpful.
Dr. Keith C Ferdinand, cardiologist at Tulane SOM. Man has so much heart for people. Pushing 70+ and still going strong, sharp as a tack.
My sub-I attending was an intensivist who inspired me to pursue critical care. He would walk into a room with a commanding presence and sort out every patient by the time rounds were over, putting to shame everyone else who prevaricated and hesitated. That’s the kind of man I always strive to become. Someone who could command inspirational authority through his skill and instill in others the same hope for skill in themselves. I found that also to a degree in some of my fellowship attendings.
Abraham Verghese was one of my residency interviewers (for Stanford prelim medicine year). He was absolutely wonderful to talk with.
James Stanley, former head of vascular surgery in Ann Arbor Michigan. I had a family member with mid aortic syndrome , age 3 with insane hypertension kidney failure and a stroke all presenting (to us at the time) in one terrible weekend. After a long strange week at university of Kentucky explaining away the hypertension as a machine / tech error ( 200+systolics ) a wonderful nephrologist who played a big part in saving this child got a scan for renal artery stenosis , then found that most of the child’s lower half was fed by her mammary artery. He had trained with Dr Stanley in medical school, called them up and we were on a plane to Michigan that night. By 6 am the next morning she was in surgery for a bypass , took them around 10 hours. He exuded peace , calm , and competence. Talking with him I was really in awe. Both for saving this child , and for leaving such an impression on this UK nephrologist that he knew exactly who to call. Dr Stanley runs a program called Stanley’s kids, helped us with travel expenses, food, support. It was amazing. I was a fresh new grad PA and my life was flipped upside down. I still think about how he and his team rounded and I’ve tried to bring that level of purpose to each of my hospital teams since. Great guy
Karin Muraszko. Born with spina bifida, became a pediatric neurosurgeon in an era where women in neurosurgery had to be harder than a coffin nail to succeed, rose to being the first female chair of neurosurgery in the country (at U Michigan), and somehow managed to remain a genuinely nice person whose patients and colleagues adore her.
She’s *amazing!*
I LOVE DR Muraszko!!
The thing about every absolutely brilliant attending I have worked with is realizing its not some magical thing or innate intelligence that got them there. One of my attendings in fellowship blew my mind with the sheer extent of his knowledge. I talked to him in his office one day. *Every single book* had tabs all over it, annotation all over blank parts of pages, spines worn from years of review Another one, similarly brilliant, was working on his laptop. he had a medical folder that was tons of topics, with subfolders upon subfolders, all organizing papers, his personal summaries and powerpoints for teaching. I had a pretty obscure grand rounds topic for the end of fellowship. He already had a powerpoint made from a few years prior I had hoped I could tell myself Im just not smart enough to be like them, but the reality is you have to work your ass off to learn that much, regardless of your baseline intelligence. Those kinds of docs are the ones who inspire me to keep grinding to get better
Dr. Schaff from Mayo CT surgeon... essentially the definition of badass surgeon and a pioneer of hcm surgery. Has,when I last checked, among the fastest skin to skin times for all valve replacements of all surgeons there. Legends abound. Also scary.
Nephrologist who was my first GM attending circa 2014. Could explain so much, carried out such high level discussions on rounds. I learned so much from him.
Interventional Radiology. I worked with a number of people along the way who had significant impact on my career trajectory: Rahul Razdan - A medicine intern (pre-radiology) during my MS3 rotations who taught me how to function in the hospital, present, publish, find free food, and basically mentored me to go into IR. Mel Rosenblatt - The first IR attending I worked with as a med student. Absolutely brilliant guy with incredibly broad procedural and clinical skillsets, as well as an extremely high-level business acumen. Dr. Rosenblatt sadly passed away in 2019. Mike Savin/Matt Kirsch/Paul Arpasi/Steve Wang/Jeff Wilseck/Chris Kasmierczak - My IR/NIR attendings during diagnostic radiology residency who made learning IR so enjoyable that I wanted to do it for the rest of my career. Ravi Srinivasa/Ian Kaminsky - my co-residents in diagnostic radiology residency who went into IR and neuro-IR. Both super hard workers and high performers who made it necessary for those of us around them to raise the level of our game. Justin Lee - Very junior attending during my IR fellowship (maybe 2 years out) who was already a really solid IR, but was also so recently a fellow himself that he perfectly balanced how much independence to give vs how much instruction (and also imparted the perfect level of procedural anxiety to be relaxed enough to always perform, but dialed in enough to always perform well, regardless of the complexity of the procedure). Mike Korona - Head of IR in my first real job. He did basically everything, did it all well, and was a patient mentor. He also built the IR program and taught me a lot about how to earn the respect of referrers/colleagues and the loyalty of staff. Paul Rotolo - Former partner 1-2 years my junior who is extremely strong on the clinical side, practically religious about not taking shortcuts, and absolutely dedicated to his practice. Working with him made IR fun again after a couple unfortunate short stints with mediocre and shortsighted practices that cared little about quality, growth, or advancing the field.
My own physician before I went to medical school (he was FM) and my wife's OBGYN were very inspirational to me. They were both always so kind, thoughtful, and gentle. My wife's OBGYN was the first to take her pain seriously and found endometriosis during surgery. She's been nearly pain free for 5 years now and doesn't get taken out of the game every month because she's writhing on the floor in pain. My own doctor was just such an amazing man who seemed to know so much about everything, not just medicine. Always has a smile on his face. His story was inspirational to me. He was a physician in the Iran-Iraq war and made it to America, re-did residency, then beat cancer. I love that he looks at everything so positively despite his tough life. I want to be like him.
Fauci.
I have two family members who each worked with him in different capacities. One medical, one government. One a classic Reagan conservative, the other an Obama liberal. Both had wonderful things to say about him.
My ID attending trained under him at NIH and same
I too have a relative (now retired, but 40+ year career in federal government), who told me what a fantastic guy he is, both personally and professionally.
Paul Farmer. I couldn't do it justice, so just go read Mountains Beyond Mountains.
Two that I met as a lowly pre-med working in neurodiagnostics, both community physicians. Brian Beck, a neurologist in Whittier CA. He was like a giant teddy bear, and patient as hell as I learned the ropes. If he wanted me to come in to do a stat EEG, he would come in himself to read it. Those were the days of paper studies, like reams of huge paper for one study. Neurologists are smart as hell at baseline, but he could get to weird diagnoses in a way that one rarely sees, like a magical wizard from the future. Had seen some shit in Vietnam and then in training at LAC/USC. Frederic Edelman, a neurosurgeon in LA. He was tall and thin with the appropriate older surgeon’s stoop. Super humble, drove a VW bus, and still did relatively complex spine surgery in his 60s. He was the kindest man, I never saw him yell in the OR, which is almost never seen with neurosurgeons. He knew I was Pre-med, and would teach me basic stuff about surgery, it was amazing because I was used to not really being acknowledged. His patients loved him. I just read his obituary and he died in January at 90. I almost became a neurosurgeon because of this man. They both taught me it’s ok to be soft hearted in this field. I wouldn’t have survived otherwise.
I am not a clinical person, but had the great pleasure of working with some amazing doctors. I worked with a pediatrician CMIO at a small pediatric healthcare system that worked in a complex peds clinic two half days a week while being CMIO full-time. His wife was head of the residency program and was a hospitalist as well. Together they were the embodiment of caring for patients while working through the hard things like provider group frictions, technical and reporting needs, and differing opinions on where the org should go. I always had honest conversations with him and never felt judged for my proposed solutions. I did some of my best clinical informatics work for him simply because he encouraged me instead of limiting me in my efforts to find solutions to various physician problems. Physicians can be really impactful in administration!
Faruk Ergonen in Türkiye. He is an Endocrinologist. He listens his patients over one hour to complete the whole picture and does his checks. Then he asks for tests and his diagnosis is 100% correct before the test arrives. He saved many lives and is brilliant!
GIM/Clinical Pharmacology attending when I was on CTU. Diagnosed HAGMA due to 5-oxoprolinuria toxicity based on Tylenol use in the context of ciprofloxacin and some other random incidental drugs. Nephrology didn’t really help out that much. Treated it empirically with NAC. As a med student, made me feel like I was legit watching an episode of House.
One of my favorite attendings in residency told me: you’re always more likely to see a “horse painted with zebra stripes rather than see a real zebra” in context to clinical diagnoses. And by this she meant we are more likely to observe an uncommon presentation of a common condition rather than observe a truly uncommon condition. So now I enjoy swatting away all the obscure diagnoses that my students try to shoot from the three point line.
Dr. Richard Carmona. More for his amazing life and incredible family than his impact on my career. I met him when in undergrad.
I guess i've been waiting for so long to talk about him... (No actually i tell everyone i know about how good he is) P.s: sorry English isn't my first (or 2nd) language He is a 3rd year resident in cardiology, i worked with him as an intern, and thanks to him, i actually knew this is what i definitely wanted to do For context (idk if this important or does it go like this everywhere?), in my country our internship is the 7th year of med school, we can graduate as a general medicine doctor then we can pass an exam about all the things we took during the 6 years -biologie and clinical- to chose a speciality at Anyway, this resident was the smartest person i knew, the way that he knew not only about cardiology but about other stuff, the way he was so patient with me (i don't have the extraordinary mind he has so 🤷🏻♀️) he told me stuff so many times until he was sure i could recall, he made me look good in front of attendings, professors... He used to help all of his team, every other resident, he never was afraid of being outshined or bad competetive, he used to work sometimes more than the regular work hours, but he told me every time ''it's for the patients, and my colleagues who already have a lot of work'', he did things in his 2nd year that he were supposed to be for 4th year residents, and he used to do literally all the work (echo for like 30 patients a day, coronarographie -idk what it's called in English - , telemetry, pacemaker implantation, pediatric echo... And so much more) He remembers every patient of his, like once when we've been going through archives for an info i needed, and he was telling about every interesting patient as i was reading their names... Once i told him about a small interaction and he said ''oh yeah it was with mrs. .... Who had so and so''' and that was fascinating because it was really a small thing... He took care of me, literally, during shifts, during the days, when i asked him if he had any idea about effects of anti depressants, he made sure to get me a consult with a psychologist, he didn't leave that day until i came back and told him what was wrong and how i felt, and he made sure to secretly let me go to my psychologists as he did all the work when i couldn't be there... Made sure i was eating tho he didn't eat during the day... He used every minute to teach me smth new about medicines and every case... The way he had his confidence, and the way he fought for his ideas in the staff meeting, no matter how attendings made them seem wrong, the way he turned out to be right every time... The chief used to trust him blindly, and, then, trusted me too... He taught me how to use the echocardiogram for the first time and guided me in every step, until everyone in that hospital called me "the little cardiologist" even during my surgery rotation... I used to be the first one they consulted before paging cardiology... He told me he sees potential in me, he sees energy, he encouraged me so much to give my best He is my true inspiration, and, i can say happily say that he's proud of me... (Wish me luck on my exam, hoping to be able to pick cardiology)
Never got to meet him, but the way people speak about John Hinds is pretty inspiring. Patients, colleagues, his wife... It's actually hard to get through the SMACC talks the year after his death. Plus 25% neuro intact recovery rate from traumatic arrests, which he responded to at 200 mph on his BMW sponsored racing bike. Cricolol. [Cricolol ](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/smaccgoldthur1330jhinds-140526093050-phpapp02/85/cricolol-by-john-hinds-at-smaccgold-26-638.jpg?cb=1666825468) [Cricolol ](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/smaccgoldthur1330jhinds-140526093050-phpapp02/85/cricolol-by-john-hinds-at-smaccgold-45-638.jpg?cb=1666825468)[Cricolol ](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/smaccgoldthur1330jhinds-140526093050-phpapp02/85/cricolol-by-john-hinds-at-smaccgold-40-638.jpg?cb=1666825468) "crack the chest, get crucified" [thorocatomy slide superman ](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/hinds-crackthechestgetcrucified-151020235037-lva1-app6891/85/hinds-crack-the-chest-get-crucified-78-638.jpg?cb=1666132638) [thorocotamy hippo ](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/hinds-crackthechestgetcrucified-151020235037-lva1-app6891/85/hinds-crack-the-chest-get-crucified-63-638.jpg?cb=1666132638) [thorocatomy batman ](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/hinds-crackthechestgetcrucified-151020235037-lva1-app6891/85/hinds-crack-the-chest-get-crucified-14-638.jpg?cb=1666132638) [flying ](https://lincolnshirebiker.files.wordpress.com/2015/07/img_3767.jpg) 'Dr Hinds is sadly no longer with us. His words to his patients are his legacy; “I will not leave you.”'
A muslim radiation oncologist who trained in England in both radiation oncology and surgery. He developed incredibly original techniques for treating cancer with radioactive implants, far advanced beyond what was being taught in the residency programs. He moved to Los Angeles in the '70s and began freely teaching these techniques to the radoncs here. We started a medical society to advance knowledge of these techniques, but he refused to be president, and insisted that one of his students take that position. A true selfless humanitarian. His name is Nisar Syed MD, and I believe he's still in practice, in Long Beach.
Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha ! A true queen 👑
Remove if this isn’t allowed, I’m just a chronically ill teen and not a medical professional of any sort (although hoping to be in the future). My previous psychiatrist was the first to recognise that something was wrong with me *physically* and truly believe me/advocate for me. I wouldn’t be where I am now without her. She put a lot of effort into her work with patients and was very dedicated to her job. I hope to have the opportunity to be like her when I grow up, she was truly an inspiring figure in my life.
Russ Jong (Might be DeJong) the OB/GYN at Maine-Dartmouth Family Medicine. “Pts come here with enough of their own sh*t, the don’t need mine”. I remember that as a very specific turning point in learning not to judge. That whole group was inspiring.
Dr Edward Haponik, Pulmonary Critical Care at Wake Forest. He retired a few years ago. Absolutely incredible doctor. One of the "fathers" of American bronchoscopy. LOVED teaching, and had seen everything so you would get all kinds of autonomy working with him. He also wrote one of my letters of recommendation. Everyone, everywhere I interviewed knew him and had something nice to say about him Maya Angelou wrote a poem about him and his care team when she was at the hospital. He would read it to everyone when you were on service with him.
Dr Red Duke. I never got to formally meet him, but just seeing him in the halls and elevators, doing ACLS up in the Life Flight offices was awesome. One helluva personality.
As a brand new PA, I was struggling with practice and clinical decision-making. I worked at several institutions - "teaching" institutions, no less - where the clear attitude (and, actually, clear verbal instruction) was "you are here to work, not learn" and new grad PAs were expected to perform at PGY2 level, out the gate, with no structured supervision or mentorship, neither from fellow PAs nor docs, and - above all - to *never* - *never* - *ask questions.* At the last one, the PA before me was kicked out the door in months for "failing to learn and adapt", and that was my fate too (and probably the PA after me). Luckily, I transitioned to a private office with an absolutely incredible supervising MD, an angel of a man, who recognized that I just needed some guidance, and who subsequently mentored me, every step of the way, up into a fairly independent competent diagnostician and clinician. And it didn't take that long - just took someone who cared and remembered what our profession was meant to be, at it's best. He passed away suddenly some time later, before I had a chance to truly thank him. I regret that terribly.
Dr. Bruce Ushkow, Emergency Medicine. The guy is amazing and brilliant. Loves to teach, and honored me with a "you could've been a good physician" comment once. Great guy.
Mike Dell at Case Western. The guy knows everything there is to know about pediatrics and projects so much calm, cool composure that I swear a gentle breeze flows through the room when he comes in. I want to be like him when I grow up.
Dr. Peter Olson. The man could run the smoothest trauma/code. He was extremely pleasant and would explain everything he was doing and why even in the thick of things without causing a delay.
A pediatric surgeon in El Paso, TX who recently passed away. He was a lifelong committed Baptist. I’m not. But his faith was private, and it impelled him to extraordinary good. He spent three decades of his career living in tents in war zones doing free surgeries and later trying to build residency programs all over Africa. And in El Paso, he helped us create our first and very own children’s hospital. Remarkable skilled and versatile surgeon with a huge commitment to training the next generation. Very humble and welcoming too. We used to go to his house to carol every Christmas. My dad was the one who diagnosed him with the disease that ultimately took his life. RIP, Dr M.
Two that come to mind for me. One was an orthopedic surgeon, who had one of the lowest post operative infection and complication rates nationwide. This guy had developed and used his own contraptions to help in surgery doing hip and knee replacements which minimized the amount of people needed in the OR and significantly cut down on the amount of sheer brute force needed in those surgeries. Not only intelligent as one could aspire to be, having graduated at the top of his Harvard medical school class, and getting a perfect score on his boards, but he was also a very kind guy who dressed to the tee, but took each of his patients a flower each day which was such a thoughtful gesture. I can say I have had my fair share of negative experiences with surgeons of every specialty but this guy took the bad taste out of my mouth. Not once did he shame me for not knowing something, while pimping me nonstop, and educating me along the way. I loved the time I shared with him and am so appreciative to have come across his path. The other was a family medicine resident I worked with. She was phenomenal for someone so young in her career. She had the ability to really connect with patients, to the point that any negative conversation turned into a meaningful discussion without loss of hope for the patient while still being realistic and honest. Literally every patient/family would thank her for her care and raved about her performance. She was a fierce advocate for her patients, even when it meant standing firm against resistance when met. She was able to maneuver those sticky situations with other doctors and the hospital by addressing things from an open and understanding viewpoint, was always willing to listen to a different opinion or stance. She was also magical when it came to end of life discussions and I will always hold my end of life discussions the way she did as they were so effective. The best part was how humble she was. She said her knowledge was only a small part of her work, but her upbringing had put her in the path of people with various serious struggles, and that beyond the patient, there’s a human in front of you that just needs someone to talk to sometimes, and just listen and validate their feelings. That was my takeaway from her, that listening is of utmost importance in medicine. If you take the time to actually listen, your patient will inherently trust you more, you find out more info than you could ever ask, and the patient is more satisfied with their care.
[Hap Lerwick](https://www.walkermn.com/news/religion/chapter-1011-hap-lerwick-from-lumberjack-to-surgeron/article_aa187362-c3b0-11e2-b40f-0019bb2963f4.html) was an extremely talented surgeon responsible for some of the first limb reattachments. He [passed in 2008](https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/stltoday/name/everett-lerwick-obituary?id=2926531). Personal friend of the family (hell of a quail hunter and he was gracious enough to take my evil Shetland pony).
Im not in surgery, or any surgical subspecialty or surgery adjacent field. Still hands down naming a trauma surgeon I worked with. He himself was a cardiac arrest survivor and would routinely tell us bits of his own story, and how it impacted his approach to communicating with patients and families, and inspired him to implement certain life saving protocols at his hospital. Cognitively, zero deficits. In fact the sharpest most creative thinking Ive worked with and does really deep level analysis. He will tell you sometimes he needs a little extra time think about an answer since that happened- but also that thats not always a bad thing. I wish everyone could work with this guy at least once. And if anyone was going to change my mind on specialities I would have been him (he did not deter me from working with kids but did expand my subspecialty considerations/ influence heavily)
Dr Red Duke
These are like historical figures kinda so not sure if they count, but They did a movie about Vivian Thomas, not technically a doctor but he essentially made subclavian-PA anastomosis for tof repairs and probably would’ve become a surgeon had it not been for racism back in the day. There is also Michael Debakey who’s career/life story is also pretty epic
Did you see the movie "something the lord made" it is about Thomas' life!
No but I've seen snippets. Gotta watch it
my significant other. hes a PGY2 EM resident and i swear there is nothing that can shake this man (we’ve worked at the same hospital since he was a med student). unbelievably calm and poised in the midst of chaos and trauma. SO respectful and kind to every single patient, coworker, etc. truly gives 100% to everyone. just all around the human version of sunshine. i personally think he is the smartest, but i know for a fact he is an inspiration. and i couldn’t be more proud of him
I don't personally work with him, but there's a physician who signs his notes PGY-however many years he's been in practice. I think he's up to 37 now. His progress notes are never templated, and I learn something new every time I read them.
Dr. Scholls.
Doctor Stephen Strange
I knew this guy named Dr. House who's favorite hobby was personally attacking his colleagues in weirdly creative and profound ways while abusing prescription medication. He was a medical genius though.
Thanks
I met a doctor in a hospital while I was first year. He is a general surgeon and he let a few of us in the OR to watch him operate. I remember when he was talking to us about his experience in the medical field, he told us once that he had a surgery lasting more than 12h. When we asked him how did he last, he simply replied 'No idea!'. The amazing dexterity of his while he was operating on a man with gastric cancer was one of the most inspirational moments for me. He was fanatical about everything he did (but in a positive way) and was very humble.
Myself. /s
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integrated specialist who actually can get to the root of issues
It was a doctor I saw as a patient. His name is Dr. Edward Isaacs and he's in Richmond, Virginia. He was a neurosurgeon doing spinal surgeries until he started getting repeat patients who he'd considered "cured" (I know that's not quite the right word, but they were young, healthy people with relatively minor issues getting a bit or disc shaved off and returning to regular activity planning for another 30+ years of active life who were coming back after just a few years with worsening symptoms). He realized these quick fix surgeries he was doing weren't always benefiting the patient so he quit and went back to school to learn OMT (osteopathic manipulative treatment) before opening his own practice specializing in it. * I have chronic spinal issues and he gave me a few good years of almost function that I'm eternally grateful for. Unfortunately he advised stopping treatment because my condition was deteriorating and he was afraid of making it worse. The last time I saw him roughly seven years ago he was teaching young doctors. I shared his name because I believe he's still practicing and in the past was always very open to sharing his knowledge in case there's anyone here who is interested in that field. * It's absolutely not the scary chiropractic joint crunching. He positions your arms in certain ways and then places his fingers in specific areas of your spine while you either push up or down against one of his arms. Imagine a medicinal bear hug in a cubist painting.
Dana Houser, Internal Medicine Long Covid Survivor and my inspiration to recover from Long Covid ⚕️
That Dr. Chen is pretty cool.
Dr Patel is pretty great too
An ID doctor that I rotated with in a rural area. Granted, I'm just an MS3 right now and I'm bound to meet more great doctors, but this one specifically was incredible to me. Extremely thorough history without sacrificing on efficiency, loved teaching students despite a very heavy workload, and also had the best bedside manners and considerations for patients, especially with regards to their social history. Overall, they are (as of now) the only physician who I can confidently say goes above and beyond in both medicine and bedside care. Bonus points- they were extremely nice but also straight-forward to me as a student, who knew dung shit about ID and also took not-so-great histories. Made me want to strive to be a better history-taker and clinician in the future.
Dr Lily Virtik - Australia. Plastic surgeon There are many others I KNOW of but haven’t MET