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Ann Thorac Surg 2005;80:387-395
© 2005 The Society of Thoracic Surgeons

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Presidential address

Quality, Safety, and Transparency: A Rising Tide Floats All Boats

Division of General Thoracic Surgery, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Rochester, Minnesota

^_* Address reprint requests to Dr Pairolero, Division of General Thoracic Surgery, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Rochester, MN 55905 (Email: pairolero.peter@mayo.edu).

The first 300 words of the full text of this article appear below.

	Introduction

 
I am deeply grateful for the honor and privilege of serving this past year as the 39th President of The Society of Thoracic Surgeons. This is indeed the highest honor of my career, and I am very humbled by this extraordinary privilege. I am also grateful for the opportunity to have worked so closely with so many of you on so many issues facing the Society this past year. Serving as your President has demonstrated that a team of well-organized thoracic surgeons working intimately with our Society’s Chicago and Washington, DC office staff can effectively meet the many challenges of an increasingly complex health care environment. Everything that we have achieved is directly due to the energetic and dedicated teamwork of both volunteer membership and the Society staff.

Throughout our careers each of us has been influenced by individuals who have made a significant difference in our lives, and many of us have been privileged to stand on the shoulders of giants. I put myself into this category, and for this reason I wish to acknowledge those individuals who have profoundly influenced my life and career as a thoracic surgeon.

My parents, Peter and Louise Pairolero, in addition to providing all the necessary attributes throughout childhood, made it possible, in times that were far less prosperous than today, for me to leave the economically depressed upper peninsula of Michigan and complete my undergraduate and medical education without economic debt. For this I will always be grateful.

In high school, I was influenced to choose medicine as a career by a young man from my hometown, Roger Neault, who was a senior medical student at the University of Michigan. Dr Neault served as a mentor throughout my education, and I eventually followed him to Mayo Clinic where he was a staff . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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