Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Laudation: Gene H. Stollerman, MD

1989; Wiley; Volume: 37; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1111/j.1532-5415.1989.tb01572.x

1532-5415

David C. Thomasma,

Aging and Gerontology Research

The American Geriatrics Society has been fortunate to have great educators and leaders in internal medicine as its journal editors. For the past 5 years Gene H. Stollerman, MD, MACP, has been just such a leader. In his capacity as editor of the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, Dr Stollerman has had a major impact on the entire growing field of geriatrics. He has done this not only by encouraging clinically sound articles, but also by establishing exacting standards for scientific research articles. Dr Stollerman has in addition recognized that geriatrics, more than any other medical specialty, is intimately related to cultural, social, familial, and personal values. For this reason frequent conflicts in values occur on the public policy and clinical levels. Accordingly, Dr Stollerman established sections, with their own editors, on law and public policy, and medical ethics and the humanities. These were wise decisions, for the sections enabled the geriatrics discipline to grow immensely during the past 5 years. Through outstanding contributions and subsequent citations, the Ethics and Medical Humanities section has become an excellent source of ethics thinking and research in geriatrics. To this end, Dr Stollerman has encouraged the publication of court briefs, conference proceedings, and original and research articles. Topics have ranged from the exploration of the role of religious belief in healing to keeping persons alive for the benefit of other family members who are on the way to say goodbye to a loved one; from a catalogue of the many difficult ethical decisions in geriatrics to the specific problem of deciding for incapacitated elderly patients. Dr Stollerman's interests in medical ethics and the medical humanities arise from a profound appreciation of the realities of modern health care and the historical and traditional commitments of professionals to the good of patients. He backed these interests by supporting the creation in 1973 of the Program on Human Values and Ethics at the University of Tennessee Center for the Health Sciences in Memphis, an early ethics program in a medical school (I was the inaugural director). This support included being on the advisory committee of the Program, inviting philosophers on attending rounds, developing ethical grand rounds, and assisting the Program in training PhD candidate ethicists in the clinical setting. Dr Stollerman did this despite his major local, national, and international responsibilities as Chairman of the Department of Medicine of the University of Tennessee College of Medicine, Editor of Advances in Internal Medicine for over 20 years, membership on the American Board of Internal Medicine, and long service on the committees and councils of the NIH, CDC, FDA, the Armed Forces of the USA, the WHO, and the Institute of Medicine. He has been President of the Association of Professors of Medicine and the Central Society for Clinical Research, and has been a Master, a Regent, and Vice-President of the American College of Physicians. After he left the University of Tennessee, Dr Stollerman became a Professor of Medicine at Boston University School of Medicine and one of 12 VA distinguished professors of medicine in the country. In short, he is a leader in academic medicine and a source of educational inspiration around the world. It is difficult to measure the impact of such a person on the many others he touches throughout his long and distinguished career. I cannot recount the many ways in which he influenced my own thinking. But one thing is sure—Gene embodies for me all that I admire about the medical profession. We will miss his editorial leadership, but his spirit and love of medicine will certainly continue to guide our efforts.