J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 2000;119:413
© 2000 Mosby, Inc.
EDITORIAL FOREWORD
John A. Waldhausen, MD, Editor
The need for leadership in an academic medical center has become ever more evident as it has become more complex in its size and structure. A rapidly changing external environment with increased competition and decreased reimbursement has compounded this. Major mergers between different institutions have been implemented in hopes of responding to these external pressures. Many of these have failed and others are at best fragile entities. It is here that the lack of leaders has become quite evident. Long ago, business and the military recognized the need for education of their future leaders. Eisenhower, Marshall, and MacArthur were available not by pure luck when needed; they had been carefully nurtured and molded at West Point, the Army War College, and specific staff assignments. To that end, the program of The Thoracic Surgery Foundation for Research and Education and the Kennedy School of Government are most important steps to provide leadership to our profession. I have asked Wiley W. Souba, the John and Marian Waldhausen Professor and Chairman of the Department of Surgery at Penn State University College of Medicine, to give us his thoughts on leadership. He is eminently qualified to do so, having studied and written about the subject for several years.
12/1/105800 doi:10.1067/mtc.2000.105800
