A
Tribute to Martin Shearn, MD |
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By
Edgar J Schoen, MD
An announcement
in 2002 noted that Dr Martin Shearn had died and that he had been Chief
of Medicine at the Kaiser Permanente (KP) facility in Oakland. Physicians
of TPMG and across the country deserve to know more about Marty. Even
though many of them were not members of our group or perhaps not even
physicians when he retired 13 years ago, they owe much to Marty's professional
brilliance and pioneering innovations and leadership.
When Marty
and I joined TPMG almost 50 years ago, in the mid fifties, we were under
fire from the national and local medical professional organizations,
which banned us from membership as a "socialist" organization
and the enemy of fee-for-service practice. The press wasn't friendly
either, and the general public conception was that although KP was cheap,
the physicians were not up to the fee-for-service standard and you got
what you paid for. As a counterbalance, we knew that we were good, and
we had a loyal and growing patient membership. Our emphasis was on economic
survival and on keeping up with the clinical demands of our members.
Marty added the dimensions of education and professional excellence.
As Director of Medical Education, he took a moribund residency program
with few applicants and transformed it into one of the leading and most
desirable clinical training programs in the
country, receiving multiple applicants for each available position.
He talked the Health Plan into sponsoring annual medical symposia featuring
famed speakers, including a number of Nobel Laureates. He was a model
of academic excellence as well as a caring and productive practitioner.
He became a noted rheumatologist; a Clinical Professor at the University
of California San Francisco; and the author of many medical publications
including a classic monograph on Sjögren's syndrome. He was a stimulating
teacher and had a prodigious memory. Many of his residents joined TPMG
and themselves became department chiefs and leading practitioners. They
held him in awe and kept in touch with him--some were at his funeral.
Marty
was my closest friend and best man at my wedding. He was funny and stimulating
with boundless energy. He excelled at anything he tried--whether it
was music, painting, tennis--or even graphology. He was a loving husband
and father.
Robbie
Pearl calls attention to the unparalleled level of care and professional
excellence of today's TPMG. It was people like Marty Shearn who got
us here. We should remember that.
