Remarks on accepting the SSAT founders medal

First and foremost, I want the membership to know how deeply honored I am by the presentation of the Founders Medal. I greatly appreciate this award because of my great respect for the Society. I have watched it mature for nearly 40 years since its beginning as the Society of Surgery of the Colon. I would like to comment on the reasons we have to be proud of The Society for Surgery of the Alimentary Tract. When I made application in 1963, I did not recognize the need for the organization. I was one of those who asked, "Why another surgical society?" At the time the name was changed to The Society for Surgery of the Alimentary Tract (SSAT), anyone who could wield a knife considered the gastrointestinal tract fair game. All of the abdominal organs could easily be exposed and operated on. Drs. Tin'ell, Cole, and Waugh, the founding fathers, correctly recognized the need for an organization that would lead the way in education and research pertaining to gastrointestinal surgery. But it did not come easily. The first meetings were held in the summer of 1960, in conjunction with a meeting of the American Medical Association. I presented a paper at the fourth meeting in Atlantic City on the physiology of bile, perhaps an untimely subject to attract an audience of surgeons. The meeting was held in a small room. Although probably an exaggeration, Dr. Harwell Wilson estimated that approximately 60 people were in attendance including Drs. Bob Turell, Claude Welch, Sir John Bruce, Jonathan Roads, Warren Cole, and Robert Zollinger, the chairman. It was recognized that to attract surgeons, it would be necessary to have a program where members presented their best work. I remember vividly Dr. Frank Moody fretting about how to cajole the members to support the meeting in this way. It was eventually accomplished in spite of disapproval of the Society by some. Our program is strong, even attracting presentations from members of organizations where the gastrointestinal tract is on the periphery. Papers presented at our meetings have one of the widest audiences in the world. Needless to say, there were many trials and tribulations before the SSAT achieved its current status. As one reflects, we are greatly indebted to those early leaders whose courage and fortitude permitted them to champion what they believed in. We can be proud of a great surgical organization and can give thanks to those who had the wisdom to found it, and to those who made sure it survived and did not fail. We did need another surgical organization! The objectives of the Society remained narrowly focused until 1978 when Dr. Bob Zeppa encouraged us to become a part of Digestive Disease Week. The idea of a liaison with our medical counterparts was previously raised by Drs. Loyd Nyhus and Henry Harkins in 1966. There was considerable disagreement regarding such a move as well as paranoia as to whether we would be disenfranchised by a more powerful organization. There is now agreement that it was a very important decision to have made. Our ability to fraternize with others interested in gastroenterology has been an invaluable learning opportunity. For a long time there were discussions about the wisdom of sponsoring a postgraduate course. The thought prevailed that there was already one postgraduate course, so why did we need another? The idea of a postgraduate course coincided with Dr. Turell's idea that The Society for Surgery of the Alimentary Tract should have educational and research arms. Finally, the postgraduate course was adopted. There is no doubt that the need for and advantages of such a course are great, as can be attested to by the course just concluded. The Society for Surgery of the Alimentary Tract has from the beginning considered research and teaching its main responsibilities. These objectives have been fostered not only by our annual meeting and the postgraduate course but also by the resident research conference and the career development award program. Because of restricted funds for research from other sources, our efforts in these ventures are important to our national interest. To paraphrase Dr. Jim Thompson-I t is our Society's contribution to prevent the medicine of yesterday remaining the medicine of today.