Baylor University Medical Center's leap to prominence: The 1972 conference "Great Ideas in Surgery"

In 1972, Baylor University Medical Center established the A. Webb Roberts Center for Continuing Education in the Health Sciences. The center included the Beulah Porter Beasley Memorial Auditorium and a 25,000-volume medical library. The author was fortunate enough to attend the 2-day meeting (November 3-4) as a fellow in cardiovascular surgery. The following account is based on his personal recollections but also on the papers published by the participants and bequeathed to him by the late chief of the Department of Surgery, Robert S. Sparkman, MD.