Introductory Remarks

Abstract

I would like to join with my colleagues in welcoming all of you here. As you can gather, one of the purposes of this meeting is to spare our students and residents from the labors of listening to the staff; they have listened to us for years. Consequently our participation is kept to a minimum, so I will try to make this a minimal introduction. As Dr. WISSLER mentioned, there are really two purposes in this type of meeting. One is the factual knowledge gained. Another is perhaps more important. It is that this meeting presents an opportunity for our younger people to meet the leaders in the field. All of us, as we have settled upon our careers, have been influenced somewhere or other along the line in that decision. It may have been that the intellectual content of our specialty drove us to it, but I think in many cases it has not been the intellectual content, but the contact with an individual or individuals who stimulated our interests and our enthusiasm for this particular line of work. That, I think, is probably the most important ingredient of today’s meeting, because we have with us today, without any question, a top talent in this field.