Response to the presidential address: new challenges for proven values
Authors: H S Sacks
Journal: American Journal of Psychiatry (1997)

I am speaking tonight about my theme—New Challenges for Proven Values: Defending Access, Fairness, Ethics, Decency. I am proud to become your 126th President in the most exciting days in our history. To this distinguished audience of colleagues, I want to recognize with gratitude the contributions of Harold Eist, whose high energy, enthusiasm, and courage have conveyed fresh hope to members beleaguered by the swift currents swirling around us and, indeed, all of medicine. The synergy in our working relationship has advanced the resolution of extraordinary problems. Over the past 20 years I have received generous advice and counsel from Gerry Flamm, the late Jim Trench, Hugo Taussig, Dan Borenstein, Drew Clemens, and Larry Hartmann. I am especially grateful to my many colleagues on the more than 20 components on which I served, my friends in the Assembly, and my fellow Board members whose judgment and insights have deepened my understanding and truly confirmed our proven values. I salute my Yale mentors whose wisdom has shaped my personal and professional development. The late Milton J.E. Senn, Sam Ritvo, Al Solnit, Fritz Redlich, Ted Lidz, Steve Fleck, Jay Katz, and the late Wilbur Downs have been inspirational teachers and friends. I especially want to thank Dr. Albert Solnit, friend and mentor for over 40 years, whom I first met when I was a pediatric intern at Yale. Al, a former Director of the Yale Child Study Center, has been a national leader as President of the American Psychoanalytic Association, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and the International Association of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Currently, he is Connecticut’s Commissioner of Mental Health. Al has been a distinguished policy advisor to state and federal governments. In theory and in practice, Al has inspired legions of psychiatrists. My wife, Helen, is a consummate professional who directs a model psychiatric clinic in the New Haven Superior Court for Juvenile Matters. She has quietly supported my 20 years of activity in the national APA. Caring, yet challenging on matters of substance, she has sharpened my view of crucial issues. Of my four children, two are attorneys, and two are in the financial industry. Russell works with the Navajo nation, living on the reservation, and Kate is general counsel and senior vice president of a major hospital. Doug and Eric have taught me that even Mammon can be found to have a social conscience. My six loving grandchildren have given me a chance to look at my own childhood once more. With my own children, my grandchildren, and my young patients, I am surrounded by blocks, Corgi toys, markers, and board games. In my personal and professional life I can’t seem to get up from the carpet. Helen, Russell, Doug and Patty, and their three girls—Olivia, Lizzy, and Haley—are here tonight. Mel Sabshin is leaving APA shortly. I have known him and loved him for more than 20 years. He is a teacher at heart, and his reflections have given strong guidance to our growing and vigorous Association. On the occasion of John Nemiah’s 10th anniversary as Editor of the journal of the American Psychiatric Association, Mel cited a quatrain written by Clarence Day 75 years ago.