![]() Encouraged by the enthusiasm of the participants, a second meeting was planned the following year. ![]() ![]() The positive effects engendered through interacting and sharing interests and ideas produced a feeling of fellowship, which was further enhanced by an informal dinner hosted by Marion’s wife, Sonia, in their Evanston home. (All presenters except Rittenbury were later to become Surgical Department Chairs.) Topics were Proteolytic Enzymes in Acute Hemorrhagic Pancreatitis, Vascular Changes in Hemorrhagic Pancreatitis, Therapy and Research in Pancreatitis. ![]() Presenters at the first meeting included Alan Thompson, Fraser Gurd, Max Rittenbury, Marion Anderson and Larry Carey. There were nine invited including two Canadians, Alan Thompson and Fraser Gurd. The first meeting of the Pancreas Club was organized by Marion Anderson, then, an Associate Professor of Surgery at Northwestern University. Out of this shared experience a sense of fellowship developed among the members of the Pancreas Club, which persists to this day. The Pancreas Club was borne out of the need of its members to share ideas with other colleagues having similar interests and benefit from their feedback. Compounding their professional isolation was the absence of a National forum devoted to the pancreas, and the difficulty of getting papers whose theme was pancreatic exocrine disease on national programs. Yet, they too wanted to share their ideas and theories about exocrine pancreatic disease with others having similar interests, and benefit from the feedback and insights such exchanges might bring. They were usually one of a kind at their institution. Those surgeons choosing the study of disease of the exocrine pancreas were as Robert Frost said following the “road less traveled”. In so doing they were likely to receive the approbation of their, mentors as well as research funding. In the absence of surgical faculty role models having an interest in pancreatic disease most surgical trainees seeking a career in academic surgery could read the “tea leaves.” Many followed the path of least resistance pursuing the study of liver, biliary, or peptic ulcer disease. It was only the occasional surgical department that had even one faculty member whose major interest was pancreatic exocrine disease. Many surgical departments had 3-4 faculty whose primary interests were liver, biliary, or peptic ulcer disease. NIH funding for diseases of the exocrine pancreas had a low priority as most members of the NIH advisory committees shared the same sentiments as the surgical Department Chairmen. The vast majority of Surgical Department Chairmen were General Surgeons whose focus in research including that funded by NIH was devoted to the study of Portal Hypertension, Biliary, or Peptic Ulcer Disease. There were no Surgical Department Chairmen who had as their primary interest pancreatic disease. Fellowship and Shared Interests: The History of the Pancreas ClubĪt the time of the founding of the Pancreas Club in 1966, the medical and surgical environment was inhospitable to the study of the exocrine pancreas by surgical investigators or surgical trainees.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |