John J. Ricotta – 50th Reunion Essay

John J. Ricotta

2018 Hillyer Pl. NW

Washington, DC 20009

jjrmd913@gmail.com

202-256-2744

Spouse(s): Gloria D. Ricotta (1970)

Child(ren): Joseph (1971), Genna (1974), Lise (1977)

Grandchild(ren): John (2003,) Chiara (2006), Michael (2008), Jack (2010), Luca (2011), Leonardo (2013)

Education: Yale College 1969, Johns Hopkins Medical School 1973, Resident in Surgery Johns Hopkins Hospital 1980

Career: Professor of Surgery for 30 years, Chair of Surgery 17 years, Senior Director American Board of Surgery

Avocations: Medical Education, Patient Care, American and European History, English literature

College: Silliman

I have always been interested in people. In the personal connections of family and friends, the relationship between doctor and patient, student and teacher. This interest has shaped my life after Yale. Family has always been at the center of my life. I am fortunate to be married to Gloria, whom I met in September 1965 at a Silliman mixer. We remain the best of friends. We have three children—one Silliman Class of ’93—and six grandchildren. While I have traveled around as an academic surgeon we have been able to spend most of our married life near our parents and siblings. This is not an experience everyone can have and we are all richer for it. While I do not have a large number of friends, those few are very dear and neither time nor distance has dampened our affection for each other.

I chose medicine as a career because of my father, who was a busy private practice OB GYN and probably the best doctor in every sense of the word that I ever met. While my path was somewhat different than his I have always tried to put the patient and the doctor-patient relationship first. Even now as I work part time, caring for patients is a big part of my life.

I spent my professional career as an academic with a primary focus on teaching residents and students. I have learned a lot in the process and continue to be both impressed and flummoxed by the various generations who see the world in a very different way. What buoys me is their ongoing sense of enthusiasm and idealism even though the methods are vastly different than my own.

My two professional passions, medicine and education, continue to evolve in ways that are hard to predict and at times worrisome. Great advances in both fields are advancing on one level at a rapid pace and on another seem to be losing the personal connections that made them so unique. Physicians are “providers,” free exchange of ideas is increasingly difficult, and students resist a “subordinate” role in their education. Education and health care are “rights”—but do they come with responsibilities for the patient and the student? This it seems to me is not yet settled in practice. The increasing commercialization of these two professions is a major challenge for our society going forward.

On reflection, I have been fortunate to keep my focus on what I knew was important in 1965 and 1969: family, friends, and service. I would not change much.