[Summer 2001; Vol. 28, No. 1; Pg 4]
Coming into psychiatry, the first person I met with a clear vision of what psychiatry could be was Paul McHugh. He was, and continues to be a great doctor of the Osler tradition: clear of purpose, a great teacher, scholar and clinician, and committed to virtue. His students have indeed been fortunate, as he has given his ideas to our field with both generosity and without self-promotion. Our students will look back at him as standing with Osler in his commitment to medicine, Jaspers in his visionary view of psychiatry, and William James as a pioneer in experimental psychiatry. --Glenn J. Treisman, MD, PhD
He's the best teacher I've ever had. I know this is a very short reflection, but It's either something like this or a book.
--Phillip Slavney, MDI met Paul McHugh in 1980 as I was finishing the second year of my medical residency. I was at a major crossroads: do I apply for a subspecialty fellowship in pulmonary medicine or do I risk status shock and go into psychiatry? I described my dilemma to Paul. He offered me a typed manuscript - an early draft of
The Perspectives of Psychiatry - and asked that I look it over. The manuscript was in the image of its maker - wonderfully straightforward, compelling, and full of enthusiasm for our field. I knew I had found my calling and my mentor. --Robert P. Roca, MD, MPHDr. McHugh has had a tremendous impact on my professional career. He has been a marvelous mentor and a great supporter of my work. He has kept every promise he ever made me. I have the utmost respect and admiration for him. --Annelle Primm, MD
Paul McHugh's strength of intellect and conviction is exceeded only by his compassion and responsiveness as a physician and a human being. I will always be grateful for his help with family members, colleagues, and friends. I call and he is there. -- Steven Sharfstein, MD
Dr. McHugh's enthusiasm, coupled with common sense and academic rigor, all work together to make him the extraordinary teacher, mentor, and friend. He has given me both a role model and theoretical model (the perspectives) that guide my professional life. Whenever I see a difficult clinical problem I say to myself, "What would Dr. McHugh do?" --
Thomas N. Wise, MDWhen Tom Wolfe dedicated his book
A Man in Full to Paul McHugh he was pointing to a model for us all: McHugh's ideas, energy, humanness, loyalty, and lasting impact. --Constantine G. Lyketsos, MD, MHSPaul McHugh is tremendously admired and respected by me, not only for his brilliance and perspicacity in the field of Psychiatry, but for his outstanding ability to condense complex behaviors into elegant, pulchritudinous solutions.
--Geetha Jayaram, MDPaul McHugh is, above all, a teacher. Generations of residents and faculty have learned from his rigorous intellectual positions; his ability to organize the complexities and uncertainties of the mind-body interaction; and his dedication to the process of increasing the knowledge base of psychiatry. He is a teacher in the tradition of Osler. He demands that his students regard the patient as central; that they ground their formulations in the empiricism of the clinical data and research findings. Political correctness and trendy diagnoses will never rest unchallenged with such rigor abroad
. --Peter J. Fagan, PhDThe most vivid memories are of his kindness as he interviews patients, of his enthusiasm and resourcefulness as a teacher ("Nothing we do is more important."), of his practical advice ("It's easier to get forgiveness than permission."), combined with the cheerful demeanor we all remember. Early on, you got the strong feeling that thinking about psychiatry rightly was for him a moral issue. That clearly grows out of a deep sense of the intellectual history of the field, and the sincere conviction that we, his students, were very important to him. My experience since Hopkins has only emphasized how rare these qualities are in a department chairman in an increasingly pressured world.
--Benjamin D. Greenberg, MD, PhDHe's a lot of fun to work with..
--Michael J. Kaminsky, MD