Documenting History
When the 新澳门六合彩开奖结果 School of Medicine held a virtual fiftieth-year reunion for the Class of 1970, pediatric cardiologist Paul Pitlick, M.D., (SOM 鈥�70) was struck with an idea: to reconnect with his graduating class, create a book of their stories, and memorialize the unimaginable progress made in medicine over a half-century.
The finished project, Our Stories: Journeys of the Class of 1970, features input from nearly 30 physicians, clinicians, and scientists鈥攁ll of whom called the SLU School of Medicine home through the tumultuous years from 1966 to 1970.
Recording the Careers of the Class of 1970
From shifting social values to innovative advancements in medicine, Dr. Pitlick was inspired to document the changing face of medicine as told through his classmates鈥� professional biographies. 鈥淚鈥檇 lost track of most of my graduating class, and I got to thinking, 鈥業 bet a lot of these people had interesting lives,鈥欌�� Pitlick remembers. 鈥淚t鈥檚 been an amazing 50 years to be in medicine.鈥�
To bring his vision to life, Pitlick reached out to his former roommate, William Gruber, M.D. (SOM, 鈥�70), an orthopedic surgeon who, through the four years of medical school, had taken over 500 photos trying to capture students鈥� everyday experiences of what it was like to become a doctor. 鈥淭hose slides had been stored in my basement for decades,鈥� he recalled, 鈥淏ut talking with Dr. Pitlick inspired me to digitize and edit them and begin telling our story through the photo narrative that concludes the book.鈥�
As the initial direction of the book took shape, Pitlick and Gruber began reaching out to fellow members of the Class of 1970鈥�50 years after they graduated and began their professional lives鈥攁nd asked them to write their stories.
The result? 鈥淭he book is incredible,鈥� says Gruber. 鈥淲hy? Because its stories document the remarkable diversity of careers in medicine that our education made possible.鈥� After graduation, the book details the many different paths that the Class of 1970 pursued, from depth psychoanalysts to clinical pulmonologists to lab researchers to the challenges of a medical missionary. 鈥淭he book鈥檚 stories reveal the incredible spread of opportunity available when a person emerges from medical school during such a transformational era.鈥�
Learning How to Learn
Pitlick鈥檚 own journey to becoming a pediatric cardiologist wasn鈥檛 linear. After graduating from University of Notre Dame with a degree in engineering, he realized it wasn鈥檛 the right path for him, so he opted to attend medical school.
鈥淢ost people had humanity or general science backgrounds,鈥� he says. 鈥淏ut for the age that we lived in, engineering was a very good background for medicine.鈥� With proficiency in math and science, Pitlick could grasp complicated concepts in the field of cardiology: 鈥淭he signals we work with are families of sine waves,鈥� he explains. 鈥淚f you鈥檙e a mathematician, you know what a sine wave is. It turns out the stuff we learned in engineering school was very useful for cardiology.鈥�
Reflecting on his career and his contributions to Our Stories, Pitlick recalls the most important lesson he gained from medical school came from a graduation speech by Dr. C. Rollins Hanlon, chief of surgery: learning how to learn. 鈥淭he purpose of medical school is not only to learn all the stuff they were teaching us鈥攜ou also had to learn how to teach yourself, because that鈥檚 how you keep up and stay on top of the field. Medical education never ends.鈥�
With a number of technological advancements in medicine, particularly in Pitlick鈥檚 field of pediatric cardiology, the ability to continue absorbing knowledge was vital. 鈥淵ou have to do a lot of reading, talking to people, going to meetings, and just observing,鈥� he shares. 鈥淪tay open to the experience. When something doesn鈥檛 seem right, ask yourself: 鈥榃hy is that? What are we missing here?鈥� Developing an inquiring mind is most important.鈥�
Navigating Unforeseeable Changes
For Gruber, a life in medicine stemmed from his fascination with living systems and a deep interest in becoming a clinician鈥攂ut he encountered a number of unexpected challenges along the way. After being drafted to Korea for 13 months, Gruber built a career in orthopedic surgery. 鈥淎fter residency, I practiced at a conventional community hospital in Seattle for 22 years,鈥� he says.
But in 1999, everything changed for him: 鈥淚 was diagnosed with hepatitis C, which I acquired in the course of doing surgery,鈥� he says. 鈥淎t the time, it was a slowly fatal disease with no effective treatment. I was told, 鈥榊ou鈥檒l just have to live with it.鈥欌�� 鈥淏ecause I was infectious to patients, Hep-C ended my surgical career.鈥�
Ten years after living with that diagnosis鈥攁nd seeking new sources of meaning in life鈥擥ruber faced whether or not to start chemotherapy. 鈥淪erial liver biopsies showed progressive liver fibrosis,鈥� he said. 鈥淚n 2009, current oral treatments weren鈥檛 available. I had to make a choice.鈥� 鈥淚 underwent a year of chemotherapy and it worked. I鈥檝e been free of the virus ever since.鈥�
After retiring from orthopedics, Gruber pursued a new priority: writing and teaching about the difference between curing and healing. 鈥淐uring is the objective part,鈥� he says. 鈥淵ou work with data, procedures, and cognitive knowledge. But healing is the intuitive connectedness that comes from reaching out and helping another human being.鈥�
For many of Gruber鈥檚 and Pitlick鈥檚 classmates, these personal connections with other doctors, patients, and colleagues remain a consistent highlight: 鈥淵ou reach a stage of life where it鈥檚 important to preserve your story and to recognize what you鈥檝e accomplished,鈥� Gruber says. 鈥淭he choices we made, the chances we took, the care we gave our patients, and our contributions to the profession鈥攊t matters now to look back on all of that.鈥�