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2020 MEDICAL YEAR
IN REVIEW

families to evaluate the impact of changes in the first five years of life Now it is our turn to take the moral high ground gained by sacrifice,
on the health of a community. She encourages medicine to act locally, and we must not yield this time! The public trust is a largesse that must
in small Beta testing projects, so that cost and fear of failure are mini- not be wasted. There has never been a better time to be in medicine.
mized. More importantly, she encourages medical workers to change Let us all choose this time to restore our rightful place in its hierarchy.
the moral imperative of our time, focusing on one that is led by empiri- Dr. Prescott encourages us to engage a colleague in conversations
cism. The intended result being that healers be the leaders of our future. about policy and practice, and not to fear the grandest of ideas. I close
Dr. Prescott offers that medicine should lead the charge to a para- with her final message:
digm shift in institutional reform, beginning with the most exigent –
healthcare. She argues that we are uniquely positioned in this industry, "Humans have always emerged from crisis by
with a knowledge of science and technology and the wisdom and vi- simply putting one foot in front of the other
sion to apply them to become the leaders of this new paradigm. and building on the lessons of the past. We
And why not? We are truly multidimensional professionals. When
it comes to medicine, we are apolitical and global. We have shared the owe it to our ancestry to all be willing to take
same frustration, anger and personal harm from the failure of our in- that first step."
stitutions as our colleagues did around the world. No one asked or
cared which political party you belonged to when you were figuring Here's to that first step. I look forward to taking it with my esteemed
out how to split a vent four ways. We share the same sorority and fra- colleagues.
ternity of never being able to say "no." Our sense of collegiality is un-
matched. The moral imperative that drives each of us to do the most Timothy C. Hlavinka, MD is a Urologist and a member
good for the most human beings has been beautifully illuminated of the Bexar County Medical Society.
across the globe in our most recent crisis.

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