LAS VEGAS—Triological Society members should constantly be assessing their contributions to their profession and working to create meaningful legacies in line with the group’s traditions, said Society President Frank E. Lucente, MD, in his presidential address at the Annual Meeting of the society, part of the Combined Otolaryngology Spring Meetings held here April 28-May 2.
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June 2010Tracing the history of the organization, Dr. Lucente pinned his address on the society’s “Upholding the Noble Legacy” slogan and touched on memorable remarks of past presidents to drive home his points.
“What is the legacy of our society and how does it relate to our history?” Dr. Lucente, vice dean for graduate medical education and former chairman of the department of otolaryngology at SUNY Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., asked the crowd.
Those questions stem from the day in June 1895 when 11 physicians met at the New York home of Robert Myles, MD, to talk about forming the Triological Society.
The Triological Society’s first president, Edward Dench, MD, who took that office at age 32, said it was “beyond the power of mortal man” to become an expert in the entire field of medical knowledge.
By the society’s third meeting, it boasted 153 members. In 1897, vice presidents were chosen to represent different sections of the country.
The Triological Society has led the field in bringing distinguished otolaryngologists together to share information. At the 1912 annual meeting, for example, post-graduate education began to be codified. That step led to the creation of the American Board of Otolaryngology in 1924.
Dr. Lucente said the society continues its commitment to scholarship and outreach. Grant support, for example, has risen from $100,000 in 1994 to “over $300,000 this year,” he said. In addition, smaller resident grants have gradually been replaced by larger career development grants, with awards that range from $40,000 to $80,000.
—Frank E. Lucente, MD
A Noble Responsibility
As the society grows, members need to stay loyal to its roots, he said. Leadership is a key part of contributing to the organization, Dr. Lucente said. “Today, are we consistently and aggressively acting in ways to protect the rights of patients?” he asked. “Are we promoting healthy living rather than just capitalizing on disease? Are we mentoring young physicians and helping them get established in our communities? Are we donating our efforts to the training of our successors? This will help assure the legacy of the society.”
Dr. Lucente also touched on the idea of nobility in the society, an idea mentioned in founder Dr. Myles’ 1901 address. “He said, ‘There is no sufficient reason that the specialists of today should not be like the old practitioner whose heart was generous, whose ways were gentle, who to a sound knowledge added a wide range of sympathies and liberality of thought and feeling—and who above all was deeply impressed by the ennobling responsibility of this profession,’” Dr. Lucente told the audience.
But nobility comes with responsibilities, Dr. Lucente said. “Should we all be expected to further knowledge?” he said. “Should we all be expected to reach out to those less fortunate and offer them our skills? Should we not also reach out to colleagues who are having difficulties and need our help?”
Dr. Lucente said it was natural for society members to wonder what their legacies will be. “Will it be something tangible, perhaps a building, a monument, a scholarship, an endowed chair?” he said. “Might our legacy be a procedure we have created or an instrument that we have designed? Will it be grand? Will it be anything? The worst legacy would be none at all.”
He reminded the audience of the “amazing confluence” of two people who together have formed quite a legacy. The first example was one-time grocery clerk Johns Hopkins, who went on to leave 7 million dollars—hundreds of millions in today’s money—for the creation of a research university. The second was Henrietta Lacks, a gynecology patient at Johns Hopkins Hospital whose cultured cancer cells, now known as “HeLa cells,” have given rise to the polio vaccine and advances in in vitro fertilization, cloning and gene mapping.
Dr. Lucente said the application of knowledge is more important than the information itself. “[In 1914,] Sir Francis Darwin said, ‘In science, the credit goes to the man who convinces the world, not the man to whom the idea first occurs. Not the man who finds a grain…but to him who sows it, reaps it, grinds it and feeds the world upon it,’” Dr. Lucente told the crowd. “It is my fervent hope that the legacy of this society and each one of us will indeed feed the world forever.”
Take-Home Points
Jonas Johnson, MD, professor and chair of the department of otolaryngology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, said Dr. Lucente wants society members to learn from the past. “I think Dr. Lucente is challenging us, he’s challenging us to remember the fact that as physicians we have a special place in society, and if that’s true, then maybe we have an obligation,” he said. “And there’s days and times when I think people forget that. Everybody is feeling challenged by the economy. Everybody has other challenges in their life.”
Alan Micco, MD, associate professor of otolaryngology and neurological surgery at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, said doctors do have their obligations and legacies in the backs of their minds. “While at the moment you aren’t thinking about that, you step back and say, ‘Yes, we do have an impact.’ Do we sit around and talk about it as much as we should? Probably not,” he said.
Dr. Lucente’s lecture reinforced the idea that a small thing a doctor does today could have a major effect, Dr. Micco said. “A little thing you do,” he said, “who knows in the future what effect that could have?”