Bob Wachter ’ s 2017 Penn Med Commencement Address “ Go to Radiology ”

By ROBERT WACHTER, MD Dean Jameson, Trustees, Faculty, Family and Friends, and most of all, Graduates of the Class of 2017: Standing before you on this wonderful day, seeing all the proud parents and significant others, I can’t help but think about my father. My dad didn’t go to college; he joined the Air Force right after high school, then entered the family business, which manufactured women’s clothing. He did reasonably well, and my folks ended up moving to a New York City suburb, where I grew up. There were a lot of professionals in the neighborhood, but my dad admired the doctors the most. He was even a little envious of them. This became obvious on weekend evenings when he’d get dressed to go out to a neighborhood party. He’d look perfectly fine – slacks, collared shirt, maybe a sweater. But there was one thing out of place: he’d be wearing our garage door opener on his belt. “Dad, what exactly are you doing?” I would ask, somewhat mortified. “There’ll be lots of doctors at the party tonight,” he’d reply. “They all have beepers, I have nothing.” The strangest part was when the party was next door, the garage door would sometimes go up and down, as dad showed off his “beeper.” You can just imagine how proud my dad was when I was accepted to Penn Med and chose to come to this special place. When I was a second year med student, evidence was emerging in the literature that an aspirin a day might prevent heart attacks. I told my dad he sho...
Source: The Health Care Blog - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized Penn Radiology Robert Wachter Speeches UCSF Source Type: blogs