I believe in the physician-servant. It is the responsibility of all physicians to execute the social contract of public health, not as an entitlement, but as a matter of personal service in the interest of the public good.

 

I believe in the power of medical educators, assembled as a learned faculty, to faithfully and objectively impart the healing art to younger, more agile minds.

 

I believe that institutions of higher education such as ours succeed uniquely in fulfilling this aspiration by responsibly shaping the collective mind of a medical student body toward this great but daunting social mission.

 

I truly believe that this is why we are here at the Medical College of Georgia School of Medicine.

 

However, I also believe that if these good works add value they must be rewarded, not through compensation or accolades, but by society’s recognition of the physician-servant’s voice as first among equals in defining the public-health agenda.

 

As such, a public medical school such as ours owns the burden of the “bully pulpit.” We must clearly enunciate and advocate for good health as a priority of the state, to the benefit of the public good.

 

While at that public podium, leaders should speak truth to power, and call the questions of how better medical care access can be achieved and when health disparities will be reduced, in our own country first, and then around the globe.

 

I believe that those who seek this privileged calling, but who achieve professional standing without public service, risk losing their souls. These physicians must cede the high ground on the important social issues of the day. 

 

Instead, we must be public stewards of the physician-servant model, shunning undue gain-sharing and avoiding or at a minimum declaring any and all private-sector conflicts of interest.

 

And if we must grudgingly concede the “no margin, no mission” reality of modern medicine, then we must also challenge the forces aligned to deny the support society provides – for our medical care, our biomedical discovery and our training of a new physician-servant workforce.

 

While not Catholic, I believe in the Jesuitical ethos of service  for the purpose of societal good, and in the principled pursuit of  essential resources directed to uplifting the lives of those less well and less fortunate.

 

I believe that those entrusted with the privilege of patient care and the power to heal are not, per se, entitled to a guarantee of permanent professional security. Tenure should instead be the mark of both institutional loyalty and the measure of exemplary public service.

 

And while no place on earth is Nirvana, I believe that the Medical College of Georgia has a faculty that, by and large, holds itself up to these high ideals, and that in doing so, achieves a greater societal good.

 

If leadership has the important role of asking the right questions, then my question for you is simple: “How can we become better physician-servants?” This is a personal challenge we each must answer daily in our own way. But in doing so, we define life’s purpose and demonstrate the best professional behavior for the students we educate.

 

It is our students who will inherit the physician-servant mantle, and they must believe that this responsibility to society is theirs to fulfill in future years, in ways that we may have failed to do in the present.

 

Sincerely,
D. Douglas Miller, M.D., C.M.
Dean, MCG School of Medicine