Spring 2009 - Hektoen International

Socrates on clinical excellence

January 29, 2017

George Dunea Chicago, IL Originally published in The Lancet, September 1, 1973, pp. 493–494 The year is 410 B.C. Socrates and the physician Democedes are walking in a shady grove on the road to Megara. Dem: Can you tell me, Socrates, how does one achieve excellence in clinical medicine? Can excellence be taught, […]

One thing we can’t live without

January 27, 2017

Liam Farrell Crossmaglen, Ireland When God appeared to me and ordained me as his prophet, I was rather disappointed. He was tall and rather overtly Aryan, with a long, white beard (no genuflection to the minorities), and worst of all, had a cultured English accent. He doesn’t sound one bit like Morgan Freeman, I […]

Saul Bellow’s Doctor Adler: The achieving medical father and his non-achieving son

January 27, 2017

Solomon Posen Sydney, Australia “I’ve learned,” old Doctor Adler lectures his oversized, untidy and bankrupt son, “to keep my sympathy for the real ailments” (42). Saul Bellow’s 1956 novella Seize the Day, arguably his finest work, is the story of a prodigal son (Tommy Wilhelm) who returns to his father, craving love as well […]

GI Joe: The life and career of Dr. Joseph B. Kirsner

January 27, 2017

James L. Franklin JBK at the front desk of the GI clinic, 1971. On September 21, 2009, Dr. Joseph B. Kirsner, University of Chicago Louis Block Distinguished Service Professor of Medicine, will celebrate his 100th birthday. In his centennial year, the American Gastroenterological Association Foundation for Digestive Health and Nutrition honored Dr. Kirsner with a […]

Progressions, 2009

January 22, 2017

Zachary T. Hollis Artist statement Progressions is a work inspired by M.C. Escher, admired by many as a visual mathematician. The use of negative space and positive space, their play on each other, and how we perceive what we see has always been of great interest to Zachary Hollis. In regards to the field […]

River, 2005 – Installation by Gerda Meyer Bernstein

January 22, 2017

Gerda Meyer Bernstein Artist Statement River is a 32 ft. x 20 in. x 20 in. installation. It is made up of a wooden box with 10,000 vials filled with a red substance simulating blood. The vials overflow at one end, spilling all over the floor like the uncontrollability of the AIDS epidemic. River expresses […]