Donald W. Landry, MD, PhD, is Hamilton Southworth Professor of Medicine, Chair Emeritus of the Department of Medicine, and Director of the Burch-Lodge Center for Human Longevity at Columbia University.
Medicine goes back 5,000 years. Medicine is already 2,500 years old when Hippocrates articulates the Oath, and it hasn't even started the infancy of its science. So for millennia, the medical profession has been in service of those in need—regardless of risk.
Doctors are called to a life of compassionate service to human beings invested with intrinsic dignity. This essay is adapted from the Commencement Address Dr. Landry delivered at the St. Louis University School of Medicine.
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