{"id":52902,"date":"2015-06-11T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-06-11T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2015\/06\/11\/a-principle-of-excellence-and-eminence\/"},"modified":"2022-09-02T19:56:55","modified_gmt":"2022-09-03T00:56:55","slug":"a-principle-of-excellence-and-eminence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2015\/06\/11\/a-principle-of-excellence-and-eminence\/","title":{"rendered":"A PRINCIPLE of excellence and eminence"},"content":{"rendered":"

\nThere are a few things that have become evident about the man who became UNMC’s chancellor more than a year ago.<\/p>\n

\nJeffrey P. Gold, M.D., works early mornings and late into the night.<\/p>\n

\nHe advocates excellence and eminence.<\/p>\n

\nHe declares research is about more than getting a grant funded or a paper published. It’s about taking what we know and learn to impact and improve peoples’ lives.<\/p>\n

\nHe says that the quality of patient care should be measured not by numbers or metrics, but by what you would expect for your aging parents or your own kids.<\/p>\n

\nWhat drives a man like this? I sat down with him recently and this is what I learned about our chancellor.<\/p>\n

\nWhen he was in middle school, his mom was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. He saw how something like this affects a family. He lived it. At first, he, his brother and his dad, witnessed the wonder of medicine – fancy tests and effective therapies.<\/p>\n

\nAnd then, the wonder ceased. “I saw that medicine can run out of great ideas and the patient suffers,” Dr. Gold said.<\/p>\n

\nHe saw how this realization affected his mom’s health care providers, too.<\/p>\n

\nHe saw the family focus evolve from caring for children to caring for the one who is chronically ill. Not that he and his father and brother minded. They rallied.<\/p>\n

\nThe family grew even closer still.<\/p>\n

\n“It was a wonderful aspect of a family tragedy,” Dr. Gold said.<\/p>\n

\nBut it was not easy. As his mom’s illness progressed, her mobility diminished and she needed them more and more.<\/p>\n

\nShe was completely wheelchair-bound by the time he graduated high school. She couldn’t attend his college graduation, his med school graduation.<\/p>\n

\nHis father, who sold ladies stockings in the retail business, is still the greatest health care provider Dr. Gold has ever known.<\/p>\n

\n“When my father passed away several years ago, I thought about the things that he stood for in his life and what he accomplished,” Dr. Gold said.<\/p>\n

\n“The unwavering care of my mom through 15 years of illness was certainly one of them.”<\/p>\n

\nThis is why Dr. Gold talks about research and education and quality of care.<\/p>\n

\nThis is why, in long talks with his family, he decided to become a physician. This is also why he majored in engineering, because he needed a scholarship and engineering scholarships were easier to get.<\/p>\n

\nThis is why he became a cardiovascular surgeon.<\/p>\n

\n“I chose an area where the impact is immediate,” Dr. Gold said. “An overwhelmingly high percentage of time, I could talk to a family about their loved one on the day of surgery and tell them that everything went well and that their child or their family member was going to be fine.”<\/p>\n

\nSo, he chose an area where the problem was fixable. A magical blend of art and science, or engineering and medicine.<\/p>\n

\n“Maybe that’s one of the reasons I did what I did,” he said. “But I also chose it because it was a field that was rapidly advancing. There is a  mechanical side, almost a plumbing side to the science and I had an engineering background. I was interested in materials and fluid dynamics and blood flow and things along those lines so it all sort of fit.”<\/p>\n

\nAnd in each of his cases, he has seen how personal health care decisions are made, how a family member’s health affects the entire family, just as it had with his. To have the privilege of that family giving you its trust …<\/p>\n

\n“The incredible positive feedback – the warmth, the friendship, the long-term relationships that occurred from that time have been absolutely amazing in my life,” Dr. Gold said.<\/p>\n

\nThat’s one of the aspects of the educational process that he wants all those in health care – especially those preparing to go into it – to know. Commit to an unwavering declaration for our future, he said. Commit to “transforming lives for a healthier future.” It’s worth it.<\/p>\n

\n“And those rewards are huge, and they are the core of what makes medicine an enduring profession.” He’s grateful for what he and his family learned that helped make him who he is today. He’s grateful to his mom for who she was – and how, even as her condition became worse, she always faced adversity with great courage and continued to make all of them better.<\/p>\n

\nBut he’s never forgotten how hard it all seemed. He never will.<\/p>\n

\nWhen Dr. Gold was in his first year of his surgery residency, he lost his mom.<\/p>\n

\n“I hoped there were better treatments,” Dr. Gold said. “I hoped she would not be taken away from me at that time – I was married just over a year when this loss happened. It was really sad that I was at this stage of my life and she was not there to join me. She never experienced the joys of grandchildren or the results of life-long investments in our education.<\/p>\n

\n“But it also inspired me. I’ve done a good deal of research in my life. I still do.<\/p>\n

\nIt is exactly aimed at this goal of trying to pay it forward. Trying to improve the quantity and quality, the satisfaction and fulfillment of peoples’ lives. And that’s a significant way to change the life of a patient, a community and the world.” It’s why education and research to him is about people, not papers.<\/p>\n

\nIt’s why patient care is about families, not numbers. It’s why he talks about excellence and eminence, why he wants everyone at UNMC to not just come to work, but take a stand. For everyone to take professional and personal ownership of our culture, as we are all joined by this common goal – to improve the human condition.<\/p>\n

\nIt’s why he works early mornings and late into the night.<\/p>\n

\nIt’s why, in just about every talk he gives, Dr. Gold talks about wandering the halls of the hospital – looking for families and patients who are going through what he and his family went through, a long time ago.<\/p>\n