For the past four years, retired Spokane cardiovascular surgeon Sam Selinger, MD, has presented incoming Doctor of Medicine students with stethoscopes before they begin their training. Each stethoscope is sponsored by generous donors like Selinger and his wife Rosemary.
Each year, Selinger humbly connects with the incoming class of medical students, providing them with gentle wisdom gained from an extensive 35-year career practicing medicine.
“Carrying a stethoscope marks you as a professional and clinician–having a mastery of special knowledge and knowing how to listen. Whatever you do while carrying a stethoscope reflects on your profession and every other physician,” said Selinger to the Class of 2023 during his first stethoscope presentation.
Selinger also emphasizes the significance of receiving such a gift—and the charge to use it to improve community health.
“Why would someone in the community who has never met you give you a valuable professional instrument?” Selinger questioned. “This community believes you chose medicine so you could use your knowledge and tools, like the stethoscope, to build relationships, to make sense of ailments, and to create plans that improve health. Our expectations are high, and we want each of you to be engaged in improving our personal and community health from the beginning.”
Thank you to community supporters like the Selingers who help form the next generation of Washington doctors, speech language pathologists, and nutrition and exercise physiologists.