Compassion and the Art of Family Medicine: From Osler to Oprah

It is an honor and a privilege to be invited to give the Pisacano lecture. Nick was a good friend and almost singularly responsible for establishing our specialty on a solid foundation of clinical competence and compassionate, comprehensive care. He was also a lover of the arts, especially music and literature. Thus, I have used "the art of family medicine" in my tide to reflect on the role of the arts in our discipline, as I think Nick would have appreciated. In fact, Nick once said that "someday, when the Board is going well, I would like to help rebuild the image of the physician. I'd like to see him study Shakespeare and the Bible. Medicine is a scientific discipline based on humanism."1 It has been 10 years since Nick's death on 11 March 1990, yet he is still considered the father of family practice. He was a scholarly man of dignity, distinction, and enormous courage, and he was devoted to the highest moral and ethical principles that guide the medical profession. The welfare of the patient was foremost in everything he supported.