Philadelphia Medicine Summer 2021 - 7

philamedsoc.org
Meet Dr. Stephen Permut
NEW PCMS PRESIDENT APPLIES
ADVOCACY-FIRST APPROACH
By Andy Andrews, Editor
N
ew Philadelphia County Medical
Society President Dr. Stephen
Permut realizes there is no onesize-fits-all
strategy that works in health
care or in leading a health professional
advocacy organization.
Permut (pronounced PER-mit) said he
tries to " identify the health characteristics
of each individual and work with them
to develop a plan to keep them healthy
or for them to regain health. "
As the new society president, he
would like to develop a plan to survey
PCMS membership to determine ways
that organized medicine, Permut said, " is
meeting the needs of physicians across
the spectrum. "
Permut has been in the public health
arena for decades as a family physician,
and once served as chairman of the Temple
University Hospital's Department of
family and community medicine, now
on the first floor, Jones Hall, of the Temple campus at Broad and
Ontario streets.
For Permut's 46-year career in family medicine, he wants to know
how patients think, how legislators behave and seeks out ways to
find what the best strategies are to provide a wealth of important
information to not only patients, but to membership in PCMS.
Lives in Philadelphia
The new president was born, raised and lives in Philadelphia.
Stephen is married to Marylene and they have two daughters,
Laura (married to Andrew) Sparks and Irene (married to Alex) Swift.
Stephen and Marylene live in the Chestnut Hill neighborhood in
Philadelphia.
He has four grandchildren: Casey,
17; Haoshun, 14; Max, 9; and Owen, 8.
Permut received his bachelor's degree
at the University of Pennsylvania in 1967
and his MD at Temple in 1972.
Curiously he also received a juris
doctorate degree from Widener University
in 1985.
Why did he obtain a law degree?
The decision came about from his
experience on several community boards.
From 1981 to 1985, when he was
enrolled in law school at night, Permut
was also in practice in Wilmington. He
was on a number of community boards,
he said, " and it seemed like when community
board members have great ideas
for their organizations, the naysayers on
the board were often attorneys, pointing
out the liabilities to these great ideas. "
At the time, Delaware was in its second wave of a medical
malpractice crisis.
" So one of the boards I sat on was populated mostly by attorneys, "
Permut said. " One of them was a professor at what was Delaware
Law School, which is now Widener University Law School.
" And so I spoke with him, and decided it might be beneficial
to see if I could figure out how lawyers think, if it would help me
on some of these community boards and maybe working with the
legislature around the malpractice crisis, " Permut said.
To the new PCMS president, it was like " trying to get oil and
water to mix. "
But Permut was satisfied with the success he had.
continued on next page
Summer 2021 : Philadelphia Medicine
7
http://www.philamedsoc.org
Philadelphia Medicine Summer 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Philadelphia Medicine Summer 2021
