- Email: [email protected]
Southern Society for Clinical Investigation Founders’ Medal Acceptance
HIGHLIGHTS
FROM THE
2012 SOUTHERN REGIONAL MEETING
Southern Society for Clinical Investigation Founders’ Medal Acceptance Karl T. Weber, MD
T
wice honored; twice humbled. It is with great privilege and high honor to have the Southern Society for Clinical Investigation Council exalt me as the 40th recipient of its Founders’ Medal (Figure 1). It is humbling that the council found me worthy of a national and international opinion leader in medicine and who has provided seminal leadership for the growth of this learned society. It is with honor that I received Daniel Villarreal’s discourse of my career as a clinician scientist; it is with humility that I appreciate those past accomplishments he recounted for me as a clinician educator. Indeed, it is my singular honor to follow in the footsteps of previous medal recipients and revered academic giants as Tinsley R. Harrison, George W. Burch and Arthur C. Guyton.
THE PERSPECTIVE OF A CLINICIAN SCIENTIST/EDUCATOR For the clinician scientist, there exists the opportunity to forge new frontiers and to create incremental knowledge that will advance the practice of medicine. As a clinician educator, one advances the practice of medicine by mentoring the next generation of physicians while integrating incremental knowledge with current wisdom and at times replacing prevailing dogma. In either case, an academician has the opportunity to recalibrate personal priorities and strategies, to invigorate one’s intellectual capacity on a daily basis, to interrogate what is known and to investigate the unknown, and to share knowledge. Science is progressive and powerful yet yielding of its mysteries. An academic must dare to dream of unraveling these mysteries. Indeed, an academic must take time to dream about these awaited adventures soaring where only eagles dare and conquering stormy seas in quest of new lands.
THE CENTRALITY OF MENTORS The journey into the unknown is guided by mentors. Mentors who shape the undifferentiated student and trainee into a direction where the catch is likely to be plentiful. Mentors must lead and support junior faculty in their quest to unravel the unknown (Figure 2). The mentor is quintessential to creating the scholarly environment, to promoting invention and to creating equilibrium that allows new ideas and insights to flourish while recapitulating facts to provide a historical perspective. There is much joy and intellectual fulfillment in mentoring the next generation of physicians; instilling the wisdom of
From the Division of Cardiovascular Diseases, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, Tennessee. Correspondence: Karl T. Weber, MD, Division of Cardiovascular Diseases, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, 956 Court Avenue, Suite A312, Memphis, TN 38163 (E-mail: [email protected]).
10
FIGURE 1. The 40th Founders’ Medal is presented at the Plenary Session of the Southern Society for Clinical Investigation to Dr. Karl T. Weber by Dr. Daniel Villareal, February 10, 2012.
a lifetime of learning and translating the basic sciences into optimal patient care are noble privileges.
SPECIAL ACKNOWLEDGMENT I pay respect and express gratitude to my deserving mentors; role models who inspired me throughout my formative years that began with my undergraduate days at the Moravian College and extended throughout my graduate and postgraduate training at the Temple University School of Medicine and the University of Alabama School of Medicine, respectively, and during my faculty tenure at the University of Pennsylvania. The time spent in nurturing, teaching and guiding me was essential to whatever success has been achieved. As a clinician educator, I am fortunate to be able to give back, educating the next generation. I also have been most gratified to work with talented basic and clinician scientists as we came together to form multidisciplinary teams whose mission was and continues to be directed at solving gaps in our knowledge identified in our peer-reviewed, federally funded grant proposals over the past 4 decades. I am most thankful to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute for their support of these research initiatives. Then, there is the most personal acknowledgment of family. My wife, Ginny, whose love and devotion have inspired and energized my career as a clinician scientist. Our children, Adrianna, Alexis and Alecia, whose love and courage were often tested as we uprooted ourselves in moving from one institution to another. And finally my parents, Karl Theodore and Hedwig, whose love and many sacrifices allowed me to receive an education. Their moral teachings prepared me to seek excellence in all aspects of life, including the arts and sciences
The American Journal of the Medical Sciences
Volume 344, Number 1, July 2012
Weber
FIGURE 2. Members of Dr. Weber’s faculty in the Division of Cardiovascular Diseases at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center and fellows in his training program who were in attendance at the Founders’ Medal presentation on Friday, February 10, 2012. Each contributed to the scholarly activities of the annual Southern Society for Clinical Investigation meeting. From left to right: Rami Khouzam, MD; Jesse McGee, MD; Babatunde Komolafe, MD; M. Usman Khan, MD; Adedayo Adeboye, MD; K. T. Weber, MD; Yaser Cheema, MD; Mazen Shaheen, MD; and Michael Rutledge, MD.
and athletics while maintaining the utmost respect for human life and dignity.
THE SOUTHERN SOCIETY FOR CLINICAL INVESTIGATION: THE PRESENT AND THE FUTURE The storied and proud tradition of the Southern Society for Clinical Investigation has been sustained by its able and committed leadership having an unwavering devotion to its tripartite mission: a dedication to the advancement of knowledge and sharing of truth as currently envisaged, a commitment to mentoring future generations of medical investigators while inspiring careers in academic medicine and a fulfillment of its vision. We must not be deterred from our mission. We must pledge unwavering and uncompromising support. Unprecedented
Ó 2012 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins
exceptionalism is within our reach; let us make sure it happens as we pursue excellence in a conceptual framework rooted in a culture of common, thoughtful purpose. We must pledge with determination to provide our trainees with a comprehensive view of learning, where experimenting with novel ideas, original thinking, inventing new frontiers and taking deliberate intellectual risks are affirmed and honored. We must share wisdom, debate and encourage initiatives with a freedom that is flexible, not bound by current dogma. We must transcend what we know into what we will come to know. Our future is bright. Let us pledge to allow the passion that burns within to remain ignited as we pursue incremental knowledge and new horizons that extend beyond current wisdom. Anyone among us can; few ever do. We, however, will do so—anywhere, anytime.
11
FROM THE
2012 SOUTHERN REGIONAL MEETING
Southern Society for Clinical Investigation Founders’ Medal Acceptance Karl T. Weber, MD
T
wice honored; twice humbled. It is with great privilege and high honor to have the Southern Society for Clinical Investigation Council exalt me as the 40th recipient of its Founders’ Medal (Figure 1). It is humbling that the council found me worthy of a national and international opinion leader in medicine and who has provided seminal leadership for the growth of this learned society. It is with honor that I received Daniel Villarreal’s discourse of my career as a clinician scientist; it is with humility that I appreciate those past accomplishments he recounted for me as a clinician educator. Indeed, it is my singular honor to follow in the footsteps of previous medal recipients and revered academic giants as Tinsley R. Harrison, George W. Burch and Arthur C. Guyton.
THE PERSPECTIVE OF A CLINICIAN SCIENTIST/EDUCATOR For the clinician scientist, there exists the opportunity to forge new frontiers and to create incremental knowledge that will advance the practice of medicine. As a clinician educator, one advances the practice of medicine by mentoring the next generation of physicians while integrating incremental knowledge with current wisdom and at times replacing prevailing dogma. In either case, an academician has the opportunity to recalibrate personal priorities and strategies, to invigorate one’s intellectual capacity on a daily basis, to interrogate what is known and to investigate the unknown, and to share knowledge. Science is progressive and powerful yet yielding of its mysteries. An academic must dare to dream of unraveling these mysteries. Indeed, an academic must take time to dream about these awaited adventures soaring where only eagles dare and conquering stormy seas in quest of new lands.
THE CENTRALITY OF MENTORS The journey into the unknown is guided by mentors. Mentors who shape the undifferentiated student and trainee into a direction where the catch is likely to be plentiful. Mentors must lead and support junior faculty in their quest to unravel the unknown (Figure 2). The mentor is quintessential to creating the scholarly environment, to promoting invention and to creating equilibrium that allows new ideas and insights to flourish while recapitulating facts to provide a historical perspective. There is much joy and intellectual fulfillment in mentoring the next generation of physicians; instilling the wisdom of
From the Division of Cardiovascular Diseases, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, Tennessee. Correspondence: Karl T. Weber, MD, Division of Cardiovascular Diseases, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, 956 Court Avenue, Suite A312, Memphis, TN 38163 (E-mail: [email protected]).
10
FIGURE 1. The 40th Founders’ Medal is presented at the Plenary Session of the Southern Society for Clinical Investigation to Dr. Karl T. Weber by Dr. Daniel Villareal, February 10, 2012.
a lifetime of learning and translating the basic sciences into optimal patient care are noble privileges.
SPECIAL ACKNOWLEDGMENT I pay respect and express gratitude to my deserving mentors; role models who inspired me throughout my formative years that began with my undergraduate days at the Moravian College and extended throughout my graduate and postgraduate training at the Temple University School of Medicine and the University of Alabama School of Medicine, respectively, and during my faculty tenure at the University of Pennsylvania. The time spent in nurturing, teaching and guiding me was essential to whatever success has been achieved. As a clinician educator, I am fortunate to be able to give back, educating the next generation. I also have been most gratified to work with talented basic and clinician scientists as we came together to form multidisciplinary teams whose mission was and continues to be directed at solving gaps in our knowledge identified in our peer-reviewed, federally funded grant proposals over the past 4 decades. I am most thankful to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute for their support of these research initiatives. Then, there is the most personal acknowledgment of family. My wife, Ginny, whose love and devotion have inspired and energized my career as a clinician scientist. Our children, Adrianna, Alexis and Alecia, whose love and courage were often tested as we uprooted ourselves in moving from one institution to another. And finally my parents, Karl Theodore and Hedwig, whose love and many sacrifices allowed me to receive an education. Their moral teachings prepared me to seek excellence in all aspects of life, including the arts and sciences
The American Journal of the Medical Sciences
Volume 344, Number 1, July 2012
Weber
FIGURE 2. Members of Dr. Weber’s faculty in the Division of Cardiovascular Diseases at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center and fellows in his training program who were in attendance at the Founders’ Medal presentation on Friday, February 10, 2012. Each contributed to the scholarly activities of the annual Southern Society for Clinical Investigation meeting. From left to right: Rami Khouzam, MD; Jesse McGee, MD; Babatunde Komolafe, MD; M. Usman Khan, MD; Adedayo Adeboye, MD; K. T. Weber, MD; Yaser Cheema, MD; Mazen Shaheen, MD; and Michael Rutledge, MD.
and athletics while maintaining the utmost respect for human life and dignity.
THE SOUTHERN SOCIETY FOR CLINICAL INVESTIGATION: THE PRESENT AND THE FUTURE The storied and proud tradition of the Southern Society for Clinical Investigation has been sustained by its able and committed leadership having an unwavering devotion to its tripartite mission: a dedication to the advancement of knowledge and sharing of truth as currently envisaged, a commitment to mentoring future generations of medical investigators while inspiring careers in academic medicine and a fulfillment of its vision. We must not be deterred from our mission. We must pledge unwavering and uncompromising support. Unprecedented
Ó 2012 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins
exceptionalism is within our reach; let us make sure it happens as we pursue excellence in a conceptual framework rooted in a culture of common, thoughtful purpose. We must pledge with determination to provide our trainees with a comprehensive view of learning, where experimenting with novel ideas, original thinking, inventing new frontiers and taking deliberate intellectual risks are affirmed and honored. We must share wisdom, debate and encourage initiatives with a freedom that is flexible, not bound by current dogma. We must transcend what we know into what we will come to know. Our future is bright. Let us pledge to allow the passion that burns within to remain ignited as we pursue incremental knowledge and new horizons that extend beyond current wisdom. Anyone among us can; few ever do. We, however, will do so—anywhere, anytime.
11