www.CHESTERCMS.org once. In fact, at Wills Eye Hospital surgeons were taught to use their right foot for the microscope controls and the left foot for the phacoemulsifier "accelerator" pedal. I always thought that was "goofy" footed as we normally use our right foot for the accelerator of the car so for years I always had to "reverse" the foot pedals for my style of use. I was noted to have some kind of "gift" in using the microscope. Well this all seemed sort of a natural progression but when I read Malcolm Gladwell's book The Outlier it all came together. In that book he describes the reason the Beatles were just so good (they played together for thousands of hours in a brothel in Hamburg), why the best Ice Hockey players are born in January (they get more ice time from the beginning as they are slightly bigger and more mature than those born later in the year), and how 10,000 hours of practice leads to superior skills in any performance art. My early start with the operating microscope with the NSF grant that summer at Tufts and the subsequent thousands of hours I spent working with the biomicroscope in medical school directly led to my skill set as a microsurgeon. Learn something well when you are young, and it will serve you for a lifetime. It is rare in today's world where one gets to use their hands and routinely change people's lives in such a meaningful and satisfying way. I owe my skills and my wonderful career to Nancy Milburn, the department of Biology, the National Science Foundation Grant and the wonderful education I at so many wonderful institutions. Basic research is so important and the benefits are not easily tracked but lead to improved care and science for everyone. FA L L 2 0 1 8 | C H E S T E R C O U N T Y M e d i c i n e 2 7http://www.chestercms.org