Issue of
June 16, 1999

Opportunities abound for inventing yourself, Kornberg tells graduates

BY MIKE GOODKIND

It was not Arthur Kornberg's Nobel Prize, nor his role in founding Stanford Medical School 40 years ago, nor his distinguished career teaching and mentoring students that Medical School Dean Eugene Bauer, MD, chose to emphasize as he introduced Sunday's first commencement speaker. Instead, Bauer drew the attention of more than a thousand graduates, guests and faculty to the fact that Kornberg, MD, began his medical career "as a Navy shipboard physician."

Under sunny skies and a cooling breeze, the convocation ceremony that welcomed 89 MD graduates, 17 MD/PhD grads, 71 PhDs and 19 MS graduates to the Stanford alumni ranks emphasized that life -- and the institutions we choose to become involved with -- offer not only choices, but variety over time. "As a physician, you will have many opportunities to invent your own future to make it bright and fulfilling," said Kornberg.

In his talk, "Inventing the Future," Kornberg described his life as it progressed from clinician to internationally acclaimed researcher, but he reserved his greatest excitement for the work he has focused on since becoming emeritus -- demonstrating that life moves forward.

"I am now fascinated by another molecule, a very simple inorganic polymer -- a chain of many hundreds of phosphates linked by high energy bonds," said Kornberg, who described his current research as "A fossil come to life."

"Once again, we find that the basic pursuit of a forgotten molecule, relegated to the stature of a fossil, has revealed something that may prove to be of practical clinical value," Kornberg said.

A second speaker, William N. Kelley, MD, chief executive officer of the University of Pennsylvania Health System and dean of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, told graduates that "commitment to family must be your highest priority." Kelley then returned to his seat to watch his own son, William Mark Kelley, receive his diploma.

Graduate Ricardo R. Gonzalez-DeLeon, representing new MDs, described his first day of clinical rotation as "the scariest day of my life" and one that led, over several weeks, to a simple truth. When medicine could no longer help a dying cancer patient, DeLeon discovered that "simply talking to her made her feel better." The realization that "we did not need to go to Oz to find our hearts, minds or courage" was invaluable, he said.

Stacey Lyn McCann offered a year-by-year description of the initial confidence, hope and then ultimate fear of failure she experienced as experiment-after-experiment failed and her hope of ever receiving her PhD seemed dim. But eventually she succeeded, and on Sunday, she received her PhD in cancer biology.

After commending such student achievement, Kornberg turned the graduates' attention to another milestone. "We're here to celebrate your graduation, but we should also note -- as Dean Bauer has pointed out -- that this year marks the 40th anniversary of the arrival of the Medical School on this campus," said Kornberg, who was one of the first faculty to arrive here in 1959. That same year, he shared the Nobel Prize in Medicine for synthesizing nucleic acids -- key substances in living cells.

Ross Bright, MD, associate dean for alumni affairs, welcomed the newest alumni with some simple friendly advice to provide continuity over the years: "stay in touch with your classmates," he advised.

After awards were given to faculty and students [see related story], graduates walked to the podium to receive their diplomas and begin inventing their new lives. SR