EXCELLENCE

The theme of excellence is something I think about a lot. This is not only because I consider myself a perfectionist but also because there is so much mediocrity in this world.

This weekend, I had the good fortune to watch Cate play four games in a futsal, a version of indoor soccer, tournament. Even though Cate is nine and most of her teammates are ten, they were playing in the 11 year old division because they knew that playing girls their age would not have been challenging enough.

In the first game, we came up short by one goal against a group of girls who appeared much older than 11. In fact, there were so big that I wondered if several of them had driven themselves to the facility! Our girls were undaunted and went on to win the next two games and finish second in their group. This resulted in a rematch with the Amazonians in the final.

It was a tight affair that was significant for the many hard fouls committed by the other team. They scored first, and then we equalized. We had a chance to take the lead after they committed a foul on one of our players in the box. Our coach picked Cate to take the penalty. Partly this was because she is so dependable but also because she had scored a beautiful game winner from a shot from 20 feet out in the closing seconds of our second match. Cate bravely stepped up and fired to the keeper's left, but unfortunately their keeper stopped the ball-no doubt because of her large size. Very late on, the other team scored again, and we could not counter. It finished 2-1.

Despite losing the final, I am so proud of these girls. They gave it their all, comported themselves well, and outplayed all their opponents regardless of what the scoreline said. In one word, they are excellence.

DAN FOSTER, M.D.

Last week, I learned of the passing of a giant of medicine-Dr. Daniel Foster, M.D. I had the privilege of getting to know Dr. Foster during my four years in Dallas when he was the Chair of Internal Medicine at UT Southwestern. Simply put, no one had a greater influence on my career than Dr. Foster, and I am what I am today because of him.

I decided to go to Southwestern in 1998 for Internal Medicine residency because I wanted to be trained in the most rigorous environment possible so that I would feel comfortable managing the sickest patients imaginable. Based on that metric alone, my education there was a success. However, I came to learn much more than excellence in clinical medicine and patient care. At UT Southwestern, I was surrounded by so-called "triple threat" physicians who were excellent doctors, teachers, and basic researchers. Dr. Foster was foremost among them. That he could solve the toughest case presentations at our daily meeting called morning report while also quoting the latest findings for the scientific journals Nature or Science was truly remarkable. His example of excellence in everything he did made me realize that that is the life to which I aspired-a life of medicine and science.

His life story, like mine, was not typical for someone who would go on to dedicate his life to both medicine and science. In fact, like me, he had no formal research training until after the completion of his internal medicine residency training in Dallas. What he did have was a passion to make discoveries that improved human health, and his accomplishment in diabetes and metabolism are far too numerous to list.

What I loved about him most though was his humanism, his empathy, and his ability to inspire. Since leaving Southwestern,  I have met no one like him, and I feel honored to have had four years with him - the four best years of my life.

There will never be another Dan Foster, M.D., and I will never be able to truly repay him for all he gave me. What I do promise is to pass on what excellence is and to try to inspire the next generation of physicians and scientists. That Dr. Foster would be proud of, and that means a lot.