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Joseph Kirsner |
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Nestled in a corner office amid both veteran and beginning
physicians at the University of Chicago Medical Center
sits Joseph Kirsner, MD, PhD’42, whose more than 70 years of
service and distinction at the University are manifested
by the numerous awards that adorn his walls.
Kirsner, the Louis Block Distinguished Service Professor in Medicine and noted gastrointestinal
expert, who at 98 continues to report to work, acknowledges that one of the keys to his success has
been his ability to listen.
Sufficient time and good listening on the part of the doctor will assure compliance with new therapy
and give the patient the encouragement needed to negotiate difficult times if they occur,” he has said.
That ability to listen and care for his patients has led to Kirsner receiving almost every major award in his field, as well as having one named in his
honor—the J. B. Kirsner Award for excellence in clinical gastroenterological research by the American Gastroenterological Association. Kirsner has
also authored nearly 700 publications, including 14 textbooks, and has trained more than 200 of the field’s leading specialists.
Like the Edelstein family, other patients who once stepped into Kirsner’s exam room left not only with a sense of relief, but more importantly with
the assurance that they had been heard. And Kirsner did his best to make sure his students graduated with that skill. Lee Frank, MD’ 72, a former
student of Kirsner’s and a practicing physician in Miami, acknowledged Kirsner’s wisdom by saying “The real prize in medicine is the ability to listen
carefully to each patient’s different story. This magic couldn’t be lectured about; it simply required true magicians like Joseph Kirsner, whom we learned
to watch very closely, to listen to very closely, and to try to imitate.”
In 1962, Kirsner was named Chief of the Medical Center’s Section of Gastroenterology. Shortly thereafter, a collection of his grateful patients joined
together to form the Gastro-Intestinal Research Foundation (GIRF), which has provided enormous support for gastrointestinal research at the
University. And in 1999, several donors funded the Gastro-Intestinal Research Foundation Professorship in Kirsner’s honor.
Although he no longer practices medicine, he does keep regular office hours and plans to continue his routine until he reaches his 100th birthday.
“Every now and then I think about my age and I get very tired,” jokes Kirsner. “But what keeps me inspired is my contribution to the training of young
men and women as physicians.”
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