Golden Globe Award
Whenever I watch an award show, like for example the Emmys or the Oscars, I wonder why we don’t have such awards for physicians. So many professions have recognition for a job well done, an accolade, and a confirmation that the training, the effort, the long hours, the toil, has been recognized. For showbiz, there are many such awards for outstanding performance, not just the Academy Awards and the Emmys. There are the People’s Choice Awards, the BAFTA Awards, the Golden Globes, the Screen Actors Guild Awards, and the Critic’s Choice Awards. For theater there are the Tonys. Chefs have the James Beard Award, and restaurants the prized Michelin Stars. Even my father — a tailor —was honored by Tailor and Cutter Magazine for his bespoke skills. He won the Donegal Trophy for craftsmanship in Ladies’ Suits and the Medal for Ladies’ Couture. My mother was lauded as an excellent teacher.
In sports too, outstanding performance is hailed by winning the Heisman trophy, Olympic medals, the World Series, and the Super Bowl. Who holds the Heisman trophy for surgery? Or the lifetime achievement award for nephrology? Who wears le maillot jaune for primary care?
Our patients’ confidence in us and their thanks is oftentimes our award. The folder full of cards and hand-written notes from patients is the equivalent of my People’s Choice Award. We don’t do what we do because we want a trophy. We don’t seek a gold star.
To me Best Doctors® represents the physician equivalent of the Oscars. Members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences vote for the Oscar winners. Peers voting for peers. I am honored that I’ve been chosen by my peers to be listed on the Best Doctors® rolls every year since 1996 — eighteen consecutive years. Eighteen years on the red carpet. Eighteen years of recognition. Eighteen years in the August edition of St. Louis Magazine, which lists Best Doctors®.
I thank those who voted for me, and I thank my parents — the tailor and the teacher— who taught me never to give up. If they were still alive, I would mail them a copy of the August St. Louis Magazine, so they could see their child did indeed win a gold star.
And of course I have to add, it is an honor just to be nominated.