In the News
GENERALSURGERYNEWS.COM / GENERAL SURGERY NEWS / JULY 2015
Although he pushed for excellence from his students, he always ensured that they were not stripped of their dignity and self-worth. He often noted that the students gave him more than he gave them because they kept him young, energetic and inquisitive. He took a genuine interest in every student he taught. They looked to him for personal and professional advice and guidance. Even former students who finished their training at MCV contacted or visited him to seek advice and guidance about professional and personal pursuits.
We’re having fun now His humor and desire to challenge were not allocated only to students and residents, as Dr. Charles Bagwell found out his first weekend after coming to MCV to succeed Dr. Salzberg as the division chair. “I walked in the front door to take over the department and learned that Arnie had left for a week’s vacation in the Bahamas,” said Dr. Bagwell.
Dr. Salzberg with his wife, Cora, and son, David.
He’s slow … but poor Although his excellence in the operating room and hospital were known, his athletic prowess gave him another chance to teach his residents lessons. He smoked cigars, used his inhaler, took medicine for chronic obstructive lung disease, and said about daily exercise, “Who needs it … why are you wasting your time,” but he could still hold his own on the tennis court. One of his residents who knew of his athletic history and was known as the best tennis player among the house staff would brutally taunt and chide Dr. Salzberg to get him to play a match with him. At an American Pediatric Surgery Association (APSA) conference at Marco Island, Fla., Arnie agreed to a match, and he “sauntered” off to the tennis court on a “brutally hot day.” The others in attendance were prepared to call an ambulance and begin administering CPR if needed. A couple of hours later, they returned from their match: “Arnie looked like he had never worked up a sweat, and his opponent looked like hee needed the rescue squad.”
Don’t make it your life’s work to duplicate something that’s already been done by someone else Not only did Dr. Salzberg continually inspire students and residents to be the best they could be, he inspired them to be great and to do things that others had not done. When Dr. Robert Bartlett came to MCV to discuss his developments with ECMO, Dr. Salzberg recognized the importance of this new tool and saw where it could benefit his patients. He sent one of his residents, who was entering the lab, to California to learn the technique and
Arnold M. Salzberg, HB, MD, 1922-1997. start an ECMO program at MCV. In addition to bringing ECMO to Richmond, he developed new techniques in the treatment of children’s cancer and lung disease and was instrumental in creating a neonatal intensive care unit.
Don’t be no hero “Dr. Salzberg would always give us enough rope to test and challenge ourselves but not enough to hang ourselves” is a sentiment shared by many of his former residents. He credited Drs. David Hume and Walter Lawrence for being his most meaningful mentors, and mentoring his residents and students became one of the primary goals of his life as a surgeon, and became the lasting impression that he would leave. He wanted his residents to realize their potential. “He knew what we were capable of before we ever did,” a former resident said. The focus and drive he gave to this task became his legacy. For those who chose to pursue pediatric surgery, Dr. Salzberg would accompany them to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and APSA meetings and introduce them to surgeons and program directors from across the country. “He would ‘hold court’ at these meetings the same way he did in the hospital.’” His mentoring did not stop because you had graduated or left MCV or hadn’t
chosen pediatric surgery. He was known to accompany those who were retaking their American Board of Surgery certifying examination, after failing to pass the first time. “He would cancel all that he had going on those days and travel with them, get a hotel room, take them out to dinner, and just be there for them so they knew they were not alone,” according to Dr. Bagwell. He was always known as a great teacher and mentor, and continually received recognition for his mentorship. He regularly received the “Faculty of the Year” award at MCV, and was honored in 1989 by the State Council for Higher Education in Virginia as one of the 10 best professors in the Commonwealth. He was considered the best teacher at MCV by the medical students, was inducted into the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society in 1995, and was named “Clinician of the Year” by his colleagues in 1996. “Human Being, the HB degree, as he called it—more important than an MD or a PhD, and far more difficult to achieve. Arnie showed his students how to achieve it, how to be a human being, with his life,” said a former student and resident. Dr. Salzberg came to MCV in 1948, and practiced as a resident and attending at MCV for nearly all of the next 50 years. He chaired the Division of Pediatric Surgery from 1973 to 1993, but after a
hard-fought battle with pancreatic cancer, he died on March 21, 1997. At his funeral, his pallbearers were all MCV graduates who had become pediatric surgeons, and during the funeral, they were seated with his family because that’s what Arnie considered them. After Dr. Salzberg’s death, it fell to his former residents and colleagues to ensure that his influence on everyone’s lives would be remembered. The American Academy of Pediatrics Section on Surgery created the Arnold M. Salzberg Mentorship Award, which “recognizes a pediatric surgeon who has distinguished him/herself as a mentor of pediatric surgical trainees.” The award is presented annually at the AAP National Conference (American Academy of Pediatrics. “Section on Surgery Awards.” American Academy of Pediatrics. 2011. Accessed on September 12, 2014. http:// www2.aap.org/sections/surgery/SOSuAwardsPage.pdf ). The Virginia State Senate introduced Joint Resolution No. 55 in 1998, which was presented to Dr. Salzberg’s family “as an expression of the deep and abiding respect in which his memory is held by the members of the General Assembly and the people of Virginia.” The Medical College of Virginia and Virginia Commonwealth University have established the Arnold M. Salzberg Professorship in Pediatric Surgery that allows “the recruitment and retention of a pediatric surgeon who exemplifies Arnold’s ideals in terms of patient care, teaching, and research into the cause, prevention, and treatment of pediatric surgical problems.” Dr. Salzberg’s legacy and influence can be seen and felt across the country. “There are many people in his mentoring tree, but it’s not the number that is impressive, but what they became.” His students and residents have become program directors, fellowship directors, chairmen of divisions, chairmen of departments, and so on. Although he is no longer with us, he continues to influence and will do so for generations to come. Thanks to everyone who contributed to this work: Cora Salzberg and Drs. Neifeld, Lawrence, Greenfield, Krummel, Olutoye, Drucker, Tracy, Langham, Nwomeh, Shochat, Adolph, Andrassy, Haynes, Mast, Alaish, Maurer and Bagwell [see online version of this article for their stories about Dr. Salzberg]. —Drs. Parrish, Hayness and Bagwell are — from the Department of Surgery, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond.
5