Norman J Beauchamp, Elliot K Fishman, Steven P Rowe, Edmund M Weisberg, Linda C Chu, Elias Lugo-Fagundo
J Am Coll Radiol . 2024 Apr;21(4):694-696. doi: 10.1016/j.jacr.2023.01.012. Epub 2023 Mar 30.
“Half of what you study must be from outside of medicine…. For the necessary advances will come at the interface of disciplines,” taught my undergraduate mentor, Dr E. James Potchen, at Michigan State University (MSU). Dr Potchen taught undergraduate philosophy, but he was also an economist, a lawyer, a horticulturist, a family medicine doctor, and chair of radiology. My decision to remain at MSU for medical school was inspired by the opportunity to observe and adopt the approaches of a truly renaissance person. My father, an engineer, stressed living life as a gap analysis. Analyze what you can do, what you wish you could do, and what others can do. Consequently, when I arrived at Johns Hopkins for residency, I studied faculty members, peers, individuals in other departments, and leadership in the institution and outside. I analyzed what I needed to learn to become the best version of myself. One of the lessons I learned was that individuals who could collaborate in teams had the most significant impact. Individual development concurrent with the collaborative and unifying work of teams can expand possibilities. It was this lesson that compelled me to pursue a future in which I could serve others through a leadership approach that emphasized enabling individuals and building the capacity of organizations. Guiding were the words of Helen Keller: “Alone ‘I’ can do so little, together ‘we’ can do so much.” Learning while serving as vice chair and interim chair at Johns Hopkins, I was drawn to the opportunity to contribute to improve health through serving as a department chair of radiology at the University of Washington.