Out of the Well

After completing my pulmonary and critical care fellowship, I was offered a position of director of MICU in a 600-bed county hospital. For the first several years, I was completely engrossed in improving patient care, teaching of fellows, and institution of guidelines in this unit. I received local recognition for my efforts but realized that I was a "frog in a well."  I had very little contact with the outside world. To begin with, I decided to start attending the annual CHEST meetings. I distinctly recall—the year was 1998. I was walking through the exhibit hall, when an individual came to me and said, "Hi, my name is Allen Goldberg. I am President of the ACCP. Where are you from?" He took me to the ACCP booth, introduced me to the staff, and spent nearly one-half hour discussing my individual situation. I got the clear message that he was trying to see how the College could help me at that stage of my career. He nominated me to the young leaders’ forum. He advised me to get involved with the NetWorks or Governors and, in the subsequent year, nominated me to the scientific program committee. He called me several times during the year to find out how I was progressing and whether the College was helping me achieve my goals. One link led to another. I was interested in incorporating chest radiology for the pulmonologist in the teaching syllabus of the College. I was advised to get in touch with Dr. Ed Rosenow to help achieve this goal. To this day, the mentorship that Dr. Rosenow has provided me, guiding me, helping me professionally and personally at so many important junctures in my life, is very exceptional. I do not know too many organizations where their members take such keen interest in the growth and development of its younger colleagues. The "family structure," the core values that define the College, and its excellence in clinical education helped me become a better clinician and put me in touch with many eminent physicians who helped shape my career.

About the Author

About From the Presidents

To enhance coordination and collaboration among ACCP members and leaders like you, the College launched the From the Presidents blog. From the Presidentswill feature blogs about the College, medical and health-care issues, the medical profession, and other member-related topics of interest. The posts will be written by David D. Gutterman, MD, FCCP, ACCP Immediate Past President; Suhail Raoof, MBBS, FCCP, ACCP President; Darcy D. Marciniuk, MD, FCCP, ACCP President-Elect; and Michael Baumann, MD, FCCP, President-Designate. Learn more about the presidents.

The goals of From the Presidents,as described by ACCP President David Gutterman, are twofold. First, the presidents want to directly inform members about issues important to the ACCP. Second, the presidents want to encourage two-way conversations by soliciting feedback from members on these issues and encourage member input on other items of relevance to the College.