I have been honored to serve as president over the past year and as a member of the Council since 2012. The opportunity to work with my fellow Council members, distinguished colleagues across the country, and superb administrative team constitutes one of the great privileges of my professional life. I would happily conclude my tenure by enjoying our annual meeting’s scientific sessions and then quietly returning home. But the burdensome tradition of delivering a presidential address carries on. Many past presidents have shared my consternation, perhaps best expressed by Dr. Holly Smith in his 1970 presidential address when he noted, “This rather strange custom is not embedded in the Bylaws of the American Society for Clinical Investigation. Furthermore, casual perusal of the past fails to reveal any firm mandate transmitted from a grateful membership for this form of gratuitous pontification” (1). I would add to Dr. Smith’s trenchant remarks that the only firm mandate from the membership is that this address end in a timely fashion, and I intend to do so. Having succumbed to the power of tradition, I set out to develop thoughtful remarks. Over the past few weeks, my children, who are both here today, watched me struggle at the keyboard. They observed with amusement but not surprise as I attempted to illuminate previously unappreciated philosophical insights. I say “without surprise” because like most young people they concluded some years ago that their father lacks a deep understanding of frankly anything, a view reaffirmed for them by my continued struggle. I sought inspiration by reading previous presidential addresses. As I reviewed, it became clear that, while the elocutionary approach varied, recurrent themes dominated the discussion — reflective of the importance of some issues across generations. David Ginsburg, in his 2002 presidential address, provided quantitative data that the most common topics include (a) the future of the physician-scientist, (b) clinical investigation, (c) ASCI state of the union, (d) research funding, and (e) education/mentoring (2). I found reading these previous addresses, and many, many more, to be simultaneously inspiring and disheartening. For everything I wished to say had been stated by others, more eloquently, and with more depth and insight than I could ever hope to achieve. This appreciation coupled with the recognition of myself as a utilitarian phenotype, unabashedly so, led me to abandon the well-stated, philosophical discourse as an approach. Rather, I chose to focus on three strategies that my colleagues and I have undertaken during my tenure. While each strategy may represent a modest advance, collectively they unite as a considered set of measures consonant with “Advancing the Mission” of the Society.