Teamwork and Inspiration

I have always been surrounded by community people, family, friends, donors and colleagues who have helped pushed the rock up the hill.

In the end, they all helped me operate the stethoscope, made me look good, made me look like I knew what I’m doing.

I was reminded of that when I was going through the desk in my office and came upon a copy of the Bulletin of the Monroe County Medical Society from 2013, when I received the Linda Laubenstein Award from the state health department for HIV care. My colleagues help celebrate that with a framed Trillium poster which many people signed, offering me congratulations.

In that same edition of the bulletin is an article about my great uncle — my mother’s uncle — who inspired me to go into medicine.

Uncle Jim started his internal medicine practice in the Public Market neighborhood in 1937. He died in 2013, at age 107.

When I was a kid, I used to ride with him in his car when he made house calls. I’d sit in the car, and then he’d take me to lunch. That was Uncle Jim.

As I said, so many people — from my start right up to now. Whatever I’ve accomplished, it’s been a community effort because I remind people, “thank you for the compliment, but I didn’t do any of it by myself.”