Midwest Surgical Association research in the next 50 years: Newton, Bacon, or Jefferson approach?

In addition to serving as your president this past year, I have the significant honor and challenge of addressing you at the 50th Anniversary of the Midwest Surgical Association. Milestones like this allow us the opportunity to reflect on past joys and ponder future opportunities. The three powers possessed by a guild/profession are: control over association; control over the workplace; and control over the market. We have experienced loss of power in each area, beginning with the passage of the Medicare-Medicaid Act in 1965. There are opportunities for a response, and efforts should be made to save our profession. To thrive in the future and regain our status in the debate over how health care will be delivered will require a more expansive view of research and the skills required. As I hope I have demonstrated, to regain our position as the true advocates for our patients we will need to develop the requisite skills and knowledge to convey our medical care successes. This must be done within a context that will be acceptable to our patients, our hospitals, our payers, and our government watch dogs. The buzz word for the foreseeable future will be quality.