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Eur J Cardiothorac Surg 1999;16:S2-S5
© 1999 Elsevier Science NL

Forging a link

Emeritus Professor of Surgery, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA

Key Words: Physicians • Teachers • Students

The first 300 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Dr. Max Cowan, a former Professor of Anatomy at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, tells this vignette. A faculty member died and willed his body to the school. There was a sealed envelope, along with a covering note requesting that when his body was to be dissected, the envelope be given to the students assigned to his cadaver. Dr. Cowan opened the note and read the following: ‘Dear students: the greater part of my professional life has been devoted to trying to teach medical students something. This will be my last attempt.'

This summarizes well what we physicians do – learn and teach, teach and learn, – all for the welfare of our patients. These are life-long tasks for every one of us: forging the links not only between teachers and students, and between doctors and patients, but also among colleagues worldwide.

I have had the pleasure of visiting the countries of the pacific rim on a number of occasions, but China only once, that in 1981. My wife and I look forward with eager anticipation to our mainland trip right after this meeting. It seems to me that we cannot let this opportunity to visit this great country pass without making a few observations and predictions. Winston Churchill said it is difficult to look further ahead than you can see, but I will take that risk. After all, at my young age there should not be that many helpings of humble pie to consume if my predictions prove erroneous.

Through the efforts of Dr. Wu Ying-Kai (Fig. 1), a 5-day international symposium on cardiothoracic surgery was held in Beijing in September 1981. It was said to have been the first gathering of this type in the history of Chinese medicine. There were 54 presentations . . . [Full Text of this Article]