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July 2000
Volume 64 |
Number 7
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Lewis H. Wright Memorial Lecture:
Peter Safar, M.D., to Discuss 'Resuscitation Medicine
from 1000 to 2000 C.E.'
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Kathryn E. McGoldrick,
M.D., Chair
Lewis H. Wright Memorial Lectureship Committee Wood
LibraryMuseum of Anesthesiology
The Lewis H. Wright Memorial Lecture, sponsored annually by the
Wood LibraryMuseum of Anesthesiology, honors its namesake,
an indefatigable pioneer in American anesthesiology who was devoted
to enhancing the stature of anesthesiology as a clinical science
and medical specialty. A dynamic innovator, Dr. Wright was a founding
member of the Board of Trustees of the Wood LibraryMuseum
and in later years served as its president emeritus. He was also
a founder of the World Federation of Societies of Anaesthesiologists
in 1955, working in close collaboration with Harold Griffith,
M.D.
This year's distinguished Wright Memorial Lecturer is Peter
Safar, M.D., Distinguished Professor of Resuscitation Medicine
at the University of Pittsburgh. His lecture titled "On Resuscitation
Medicine from 1000 to 2000 C.E." will be delivered at the ASA
Annual Meeting on Tuesday, October 17, 2000, at 12:50 p.m. in
the Moscone Center, San Francisco, California.
Born in Vienna, Austria, in 1924, Dr. Safar received his Doctor
of Medicine from the University of Vienna in 1948. After brief
studies in pathology research and surgery at the University of
Vienna (1948-49) and Yale University, he subsequently left surgery
for anesthesiology training at the University of Pennsylvania,
believing that surgery would not advance without better life-support
systems. Simply put, his career has been devoted energetically
to saving the lives of countless thousands of people from premature
death. Beginning in the 1950s in Baltimore, Maryland, Dr. Safar
has underscored the necessity of training lay persons in first-aid
and other life-saving techniques, because the man on the street
is often the first on the scene in life-threatening emergencies.
He also promulgated the concept that a cadre of specially trained
nonphysicians was mandatory for developing the extensive out-of-hospital
emergency care system that he was convinced could save many who
were dying needlessly before they could reach the emergency room.
In addition to conceptualizing and lobbying for the creation
of our modern emergency medical systems, developing seminal techniques
used in contemporary first-aid and resuscitation, and building
the International Resuscitation Research Center that is now named
after him, Dr. Safar founded and chaired three academic anesthesiology
departments in Lima, Peru, Baltimore City Hospital and the University
of Pittsburgh. Moreover, he initiated the first medical/surgical
intensive care unit in the United States at Baltimore City Hospital
and the first multidisciplinary critical care medicine physician
fellowship training program in the world at the University of
Pittsburgh. Under Dr. Safar's tutelage, the anesthesiology department
in Pittsburgh grew to be arguably the largest academic anesthesiology
program in the country, and its innovations extended beyond critical
care medicine and emergency medical services to such areas as
respiratory therapy, pain management and "disaster reanimatology."
The Wood LibraryMuseum of Anesthesiology is dedicated
to reminding the Society that the practice of medicine is not
exclusively dictated by hard science. Rather, medicine is shaped
by cultural, political, economic, geographic, social and even
personal factors. It is therefore critical to retain the human
element in the history of medicine and, perhaps especially, in
the history of anesthesia. Indeed, by recounting a personal tragedy,
we may be able to better understand the singular commitment that
Peter Safar has brought to his brilliant career. In 1966, he was
out of town with his wife when he received a call telling him
that his only daughter and eldest child, 11-year-old Elizabeth,
had suffered a devastating asthma attack. Elizabeth sustained
a cardiac arrest before Dr. Safar could return to her side. Eventually
her circulation was restored, but she succumbed to brain death.
After Elizabeth's untimely and tragic demise, Dr. Safar redirected
his energies toward brain resuscitation during the next decade,
co-initiating the Society of Critical Care Medicine and creating
the International Resuscitation Research Center.
This ebullient man of extraordinary energy and vision has defined
decades of progress in the ethical dilemmas as well as the technical
aspects of resuscitation. He contributed immeasurably to the determination
of brain death and has eloquently promoted "titrated terminal
care." This cultured, courtly and charming crusader has waged
many battles on diverse fronts, yet as a member of Physicians
for Social Responsibility and the International Physicians for
the Prevention of Nuclear War, he has vigorously campaigned for
world peace. A member of numerous academies, the recipient of
several honorary doctorate degrees, Dr. Safar was awarded in 1999
the Republic of Austria Cross of Honor, first class, for his distinguished
contributions to science and art.
Despite a prodigious publication list exceeding 1,200 entries,
Dr. Safar continues to pursue novel approaches and creative solutions
to unsolved problems. His current research focuses on extending
the tolerance of traumatic hemorrhagic shock and suspended animation.
The Wood LibraryMuseum of Anesthesiology is honored to
have the extraordinarily gifted Peter Safar, M.D., as the 2000
Lewis H. Wright Memorial Lecturer. We thank him for his luminous
contributions to our specialty as well as for the intellectual
and moral example he has set.
Kathryn E. McGoldrick, M.D., is Professor
of Anesthesiology at Yale University School of Medicine and Medical
Director of Ambulatory Surgery at Yale-New Haven Hospital, New
Haven, Connecticut. She is a trustee of the Wood Library-Museum
of Anesthesiology.
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