A Personal Tribute to Dr. Alan Sessler from Dr. James Eisenach

Author: James C. Eisenach, MD
          FAER President

March 30, 2020

On March 18, 2020, Alan Davies Sessler, M.D., died peacefully in his sleep. Alan was one of the original founders of FAER, led FAER in various capacities including serving as FAER’s President and CEO for many years, and was passionate about FAER’s role in education and research for young physicians in our specialty. This is a brief, personal tribute to Alan from the perspective of a mentee and current President & CEO of FAER.

My path intersected with Alan many times. I first met him in 1982 when he was Chair of Anesthesiology at Mayo Clinic and I was interviewing for residency. To be honest, I don’t remember much about residency interviews, but I clearly recall sitting down with Dr. Sessler in his office and being struck with his relaxed manner. Not informal, but inviting, kind of like the quiet uncle who was always your favorite in part because he would just listen. Now when I think of Alan, I see the beginning of a smile on his lips and a little twinkle in his eyes and perhaps he had that expression during the interview. He was a keen listener and absorbed what he heard. Nonetheless, I was accepted into the program.

I entered residency with a certainty that I would settle in a moderate sized, Midwest town and enjoy a life in private practice. Alan didn’t disabuse me of that thought, but by the end of anesthesia residency I had somehow rediscovered a passion for research and education and was headed to Wake Forest for an obstetric anesthesia fellowship and an NIH application that was eventually funded. Mayo Clinic is a remarkable place, but it wasn’t just the Clinic. Alan clearly led a large faculty of accomplished clinicians, educators and scientists and set the tone that residents should learn at least something of the latter two. The program he established at Mayo transformed many lives as it did mine.

My next series of intersections with Alan occurred in the late 80s when I was asked to serve as an oral examiner for the ABA, a time when Alan was an officer of the Board. Over the next 25 years I saw him nearly every year, partnering frequently with him during exams and occasionally observing him introducing the process to batches of candidates prior to their exams. Again, I was struck by his relaxed manner, non-confrontational approach to a very stressful situation and his deep concern that everyone be given a fair chance and be treated with dignity. In the short debrief after completing our scores, I was also struck by his ability to define the essential weaknesses, but also strengths of every individual.

Finally, I intersected with Alan on several occasions at FAER, serving on the ASA Committee on Research which reviews FAER grants, on the FAER Board, as Steve Shafer and I served as Editors to coordinate celebrations of FAER’s 25th birthday in Anesthesia & Analgesia and ANESTHESIOLOGY, and then as FAER President & CEO. To me as to many others, Alan was the embodiment of FAER – he lived FAER’s mission, worked tirelessly behind the scenes to make sure that FAER thrived, and thoroughly enjoyed meeting the students, residents, fellows, and faculty FAER was supporting and had supported. As one of the new FAER staff noted after her first ASA Annual Meeting with Alan in attendance that he was a “rock star” in the sense that everyone wanted to shake his hand, spend a few minutes with him, and leave with a smile or a hug.

FAER leaders have recently contacted me with words about Alan, and they say it better than I could.

“Oh, that the world had more people with his wisdom, values and concern for others. His personal values that set the benchmark for all.”

“Alan was and always will be a good friend, a wise, humble, quiet scholar to whom we all listened when he spoke. I will miss our regular "catch up" calls.”

I think we all will.