Berks County Medical Society Medical Record Winter 2017-18 - 22

M e d i c a l r e c o r d F e at u r e
PAMED President's House of Delegates Speech

"In Front of the Future"
October 14, 2017

Theodore Christopher, MD
President 2017-'18
Pennsylvania Medical Society

EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION

Theodore A. Christopher, MD, is Professor and Chair
of the Department of Emergency Medicine at the
Sidney Kimmel Medical College in Philadelphia, where
he recently became the recipient of Thomas Jefferson
University's first distinguished endowed Professorship in
his department. He is a graduate of Harvard University,
earned his medical degree from the Icahn School of
Medicine at Mount Sinai, and went on to complete
residencies in Internal Medicine at Brown University's
Rhode Island Hospital (1984) and in Emergency
Medicine at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital
(1986). He is board certified in both specialties and he
is active in administration, clinical practice, education,
and research.
Dr. Christopher has served on the PAMED Board of
Trustees since 2011 and has served as a Pennsylvania
Delegate to the American Medical Association for many
years. He has served in leadership positions at the
Philadelphia County Medical Society, the Pennsylvania
chapter of the American College of Emergency
Physicians, and the Association of Academic Chairs
of Emergency Medicine.

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ood morning. I stand before you today honored and
humbled, proud and privileged to become your 168th
president of the Pennsylvania Medical Society. I am
inspired by the legacy that Pennsylvania physicians have left us in
the past, and if the quintessential legacy physician is defined as an
influential leader, a compassionate healer, and an effective teacher...a
physician with impeccable integrity, with not only factual but also
social intelligence, and consummate communication skills...a
physician who exudes kindness and empathy... a physician who
carries himself with the utmost professionalism, and who quietly,
consistently, and effortlessly garners respect from all...a physician
we all aspire to be, and want every one of our students, residents
and young physicians to emulate....then we have to look no
further than to my immediate predecessor, Chuck Cutler, to find
that quintessential legacy physician. Chuck, the Medical Society
thanks you for your leadership and service, and I thank you for your
mentorship and guidance this past year, and all the years I have
known you ...and, yes, thanks for leaving me shoes that I, and many
others after me, will essentially never be able to fill.
Legacies set the stage for us to continue on the never-ending
journey to provide and improve health and medical care for all of
our patients. That journey includes strengthening and expanding
the roles of physicians to take the lead in delivering state-of-theart medical care, promoting good health and healthy life styles,
proposing new health care delivery models, and advocating for and
supporting legislation that allows us to best perform our duties as
physicians. I am here today to tell you, my friends and colleagues,
that we have a lot of work to do.
Currently, I believe the most important health issue we face
today is the Opioid Abuse Epidemic, the dominant public health
issue of our time. There is not a person in this room tonight who
does not know a family member, friend or colleague who has been
adversely affected by it. Despite the progress that has been made in
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