“I’m in a New York State of Mind”

Abstract

It is an honor for me to present to you today. First, let me set the record straight. My priorities in life have been very simple. They have been God, family, country, the New York Yankees, and the University of Notre Dame. Nothing else in my life has mattered. Certainly, my friends are in the category of family. Notice that medicine is not on this list, nor will it ever be on this list. However, a subgroup of individuals in medicine is part of my family, and I will talk about them at the end of this presentation. It has been an honor and privilege to be your President over the past year. It is traditional to start presidential addresses by thanking individuals, and, as I have stated before, I have never been traditional, but I am breaking my rule this morning. I would not be standing before you if it wasn’t for several individuals that I need to thank. First and foremost, I would like to thank my family. I’d like to thank my wife, Cathy, and my two daughters for tolerating a lot of my antics over the years. They indeed are the love of my life, although at times I know it didn’t seem that way. My academic career would not be what it is if it wasn’t for my 23 years at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute. There are many individuals to thank, but I would like to especially mention four. Arnold Mittelman who was my mentor for 28 years and my father away from home. I miss him. Harold Douglass, former Chief of the GI Surgical Service at Roswell Park, and Hector Nava, Associate Chief of GI and probably one of the best endoscopists in the country. I have one story that I would like to share with you concerning Dr. Harold Douglass. Soon after I was appointed Chief of Surgical Oncology at Roswell Park, an anesthesiologist had been diagnosed with liver metastases from colon cancer. The anesthesiologist asked me, Harold Douglass, and Hector Nava to scrub on the case. Keep in mind that both Harold Douglass and Hector Nava were teachers of mine during my fellowship. Of course, the morning of the surgery, I prepped and draped the patient and then took my position as the second assistant at the table. The scrub nurse passed the scalpel to Harold Douglass, Chief of GI. Without saying a word, he pointed to me. I assumed my position as surgeon at the OR table. As Dr. Nava was moving toward the second assistant position, Harold Douglass told him to stay at the first position, and then Harold Douglass himself moved to the second assistant position. This case was one of the most satisfying in my career, and it demonstrated to me the ultimate mentorship which was exemplified by Harold Douglass. The fourth individual is Constantine Karakousis, surgeon and poet, an individual who despite a tremendous volume of surgical experience with melanoma and sarcoma, would always pull out an anatomy book in the locker room prior to each surgical procedure to review the anatomic relationships that he and the surgical team would face. It was an example set for everyone from the level of medical student to attending staff, and I thank him for that and the many other experiences that we shared. Last year, Dr. Pollock started his Presidential Address by relating to you the struggles that he had with a topic for presentation. I had the same. I went through a list of topics which included the treatment of colorectal cancer and clinical trials in view of my experience in the NCI Cooperative Groups. Frankly, those were boring to me. Let’s face it, we have gone from a median survival of 9 months to 20 months for Published online June 4, 2008. Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Nicholas J. Petrelli, MD; E-mail: npetrelli@christianacare.org