Drexel University College of Medicine - Medic Yearbook (Philadelphia, PA)

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Charles 5. Cameron, M.D. President To the Class of 1971, Greetings: Several years ago, the President of a large pharmaceutical manufacturing company had this to say in testimony before a Congression- al Committee: Let me tell you about a man I know. A graduate of one of our leading medical schools, he had completed his internship and residency training and had passed his medical state board examinations. He felt qualified to practice medicine and opened his office. Soon he was treating pa- tients - but what treatment! He used no penicillin or broad spectrum antibiotics, he never prescribed antihyperten- sive or anitcoagulant drugs. He never worried about the Rh factor in pregnant women or the need for replacement transfusions in new born babies. He did not even consider the use of corti- sone in arthritis or nephrosis, and he never thought of treating an allergic condition with antihistamines. He did not give his young patients tetanus toxoid or polio vaccine, nor did he give his old- er patients tranquilizing drugs. He made diag- noses of congenital heart disease but he did not advise treatment by surgery. He cared for patients in the hospital and often he and the hospital both suffered finan- cial loss, yet he never encouraged his patients to buy hospital insurance. Perhaps you are wondering how any indi- vidual of this type could be given his degree in medicine, much less be allowed to take care of the sick. I can assure you that it was both ethi- cal and legal. For the man was I, and the year was 192.8. It was a dramatic way of demonstrating the pace of progress in medicine, and today, we could add a few more examples to those he cit- ed. Most of them represent developments of medicine as a scienceg as such we acknowledge them respectfully and gratefully, and we look forward to more of like importance - and in your time. This unprecedented measure of the doctors' ability to control diseases is not without its hazard, however. The emergence of science as the strong arm of the corpus of medical practice has in it some- thing which threatens the other arm, which I may as well call what it has al- ways been called - the art of medicine. I suspect that, here, some of you may turn the page, saying ho hum - not that again! But try as I have, I cannot offer anything which I consider worth more as a last word to you. By the art of medicine I do not mean the intuitive, sixth-sense kind of per- ception which comes to the intelligent mind after years of observation and experience. This is part of the art, of course, but I am referring to something more: the art of medicine as the heart of medicine and to be more specific, as the heart of the physician. It is above sympathy - feeling sorry for the pa- tient. It is empathy - feeling with the patient. It is giving something of your spirit as well as something in the ampoule. This empathy will not cure pneu- monia as effectively as penicillin will, but there are components of every ill- ness which it alone will manage. I venture to hope that you will recognize it for the good medicine it is and will be, so long as the human condition is essential- ly as it is, and no matter what wonders science will work in the years to come. As you go, I extend to each of you, personally and for the Trustees this sin- cere expression of our goodwill, of our admiration of your submission to the discipline of these years here, and our wish for a long life, rich in the satisfac- tions that come from the practice of the science and the art of medicine. Cordially yours, Umwhs Charles S. Cameron, M.D. 4 Chairman of the Board and Acting President

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Joseph R. DiPalma M.D. Dean Dear Graduate: We are in an era when it is gener- ally considered that there have been and are to be vast improvements in education. Because of the easy availability of communications gadgetry such as taped sequences, T.V. devices, computers, etc, there is a tendency to believe that knowl- edge may be more easily acquired. Students are far more assumptive and assert that in most instances they do not need drill, repetition, didactic exercises, instructors, examinations, marks and the other familiar paraphenalia of classical education. In short most students are satisifed with thin upper crust of knowledge in a subject- after all won't it all be obsolete in a couple of years! and I'm not going to use this subject anyhow! Yes, there have been many ad- vances in education. Unfortunate- ly, these advantages are dissapated because at the same time there has been a decline of values and atti- tudes. True, the modern graduate knows more medicine and therapy than all the combined medical greats of a past era, false, that he is any wiser. Nor does he really poss- ess unique knowledge not available to the general public. Thus, the watcher of T.V. Doctor programs and the reader of Newsweek has a superficial information not much inferior to the average M. D. There is a very great difference between mere knowledge and erudition. It seems to me that the truly great physicians had always one quality in common - a profound mastery of their sub- ject which could only stem from a lifetime of dedication and devotion. Theirs was not the instant success of a taped program - the good fortune to just be in the right place at the right time. Genuinely great accomplishment is won under adverse circumstances and usually does not come easily without some exposure to failure. Don't be ashamed to be a compendium of useless knowledge. The modern conveniences for the acquisition of infor- mation should by all means be used and exploited but they should not be a substitute for storing and integration of facts in your own brain. Only in this manner will it be possible for you to realize the potential of new information - to make these chance associations which some call serendipidity - or in a more real sense clinical acumen. Let me also point out that the great pleasure of intellectual effort is a satiation of the ego and this is not matched by any automated device. J Happy learning - 4 LQ-Za., joseph R. Di Palma M.D. Dean