Who or What Has Made You the Physician or Scientist You Are Today?

Constantine Psimopoulos, MSc ’23 
The late and great Paul Farmer, MD ’90 PhD ’90. I only had the privilege of meeting him once before his passing, but he left an indelible mark on me as a bioethicist. With sacrifices and a preferential option for the poor, he changed the world with his virtue ethics and principles of accompaniment, expert mercy, and the belief that no life is worth less than others.

Bliss Chang, MD ’20 
I believe we are each the ultimate expression of the cumulative life experiences we hold. I think what has helped me derive the most out of my life experiences has been setting aside time each weekend to actively reflect on those experiences and taking the best parts and integrating them into who I am. I also keep in mind the not-so-great experiences and use those to understand who I do not want to be. I continue to seek novel experiences, because whether good or bad, they shape me for the better.

Benjamin Rix Brooks, MD ’70 
Surgeon and HMS professor Judah Folkman, MD ’57, director of Introduction to the Clinic at Boston City Hospital, would call us after midnight, present sets of vital signs — body temperature, pulse rate, respiration rate, blood pressure — and require us to give differential diagnoses and potential treatment plans. It was a wonderful exercise to catch us vulnerable and tired late at night after studying, which sensitized us to the need to recalibrate our thinking when presented with details that necessitate action. A great preparation for internship and residency.

Rachel Hitt, MD ’99 
My father, Barry Levine, MD ’65. He always remembered that the patient was human while providing excellent medical care. And my grandfather, Carl Haas, who was also a doctor and who seemed to have delivered every child in his small Maine town.

Jose Giron, MD ’75 
Many physicians, including Joseph Rossi; Samuel Latt, MD ’64 PhD ’71; Shalom Hirschman; Burt Meyers; and Gary Wormser. I have tried in my professional career to live up to their standards.

Edward Walkley, MD ’70 
T. Berry Brazelton, a wonderful physician and mentor during residency. He taught compassion. He taught how to question. Also, clinical rotations at HMS and residency at Boston Children’s Hospital. Great exposure to wonderful teachers, cases, and role models. Also, exposure to some dinosaurs stuck in the past, negative role models.

Kenneth Chin, MD ’74 
CT, MRI, and interventional radiology had just started to poke their heads through the topsoil when I started. I’m glad to have participated in their growth and evolution.

Tsontcho Ianchulev, MD ’99 
Grit, perseverance, and creativity.

I continue to seek novel experiences, because whether good or bad, they shape me for the better.

Stephen Grund, MD ’91 
Primary care physician and HMS professor John Stoeckle, MD ’47. I was fortunate to do my three years of outpatient clinic in his pod. I appreciated his passion for primary care, his compassion for patients, and his dedication to teaching. I tried to emulate his approach to patient care within the field of hematology/oncology, where technology, molecular biology, and the latest scientific advances often overshadow the importance and primacy of the doctor-patient relationship. Because of him I appreciated the value of team-based care.

Pablo LaPuerta, MD ’89 
My father was the greatest physician that I have ever known, and he made me the person I am today. He combined experience, judgment, and total commitment. As a lung doctor he practiced what is now called “permissive hypercapnia” years before publications on it were available. He saw that the overuse of ventilators was dangerous, and he figured out how to use them more safely. As doctors we should know how guidelines are made, and we should be prepared to adjust our practices when needed.

Johnson Lightfoote, MD ’76 
I recall Dan Federman, MD ’53, endocrinologist and former HMS dean for medical education, with affection and respect. He admitted me to Stanford’s residency and served HMS with aplomb and wisdom as an inspiring gentleman.

Richard J. Hannah, MD ’66 
I had eight important mentors from age sixteen through age thirty-two — from high school through the completion of formal internal medicine training and my military service obligation — including two teachers from my four years at HMS. From age thirty-two to age seventy-two — including forty years of an active internal medicine practice with office, home, and acute hospital care — there were many, many physicians of impact. A large number were positive role models.

Burt Singerman, MD ’73 
Robert Ebert, former dean of HMS, was a major role model for me. He appointed me as the student representative to the minority admissions committee. He asked me to be the first HMS student to rotate in psychiatry at Cambridge Hospital. He told me about two programs where I would have HMS mentors. At Johns Hopkins, he called the chairman of psychiatry and a famous psychotherapist, both HMS alumni, who became my mentors. He was a great dean and a great man.

Jorge Casas-Ganem, MD ’98 
My mentor in medical school was Henry Mankin at Massachusetts General Hospital. He was one of the grandfathers of the field of orthopedic oncology and sarcoma surgery. He helped arrange my year abroad learning limb salvage techniques in Spain and Italy.

Herbert Dan Adams, MD ’65 
A long concatenation of success and failure, which slowly generated wisdom.