Quick Trip

I was asked to attend a meeting in DC yesterday. I was flown from LA to DC on Friday night, then back to LA Saturday night. I was in DC for 18 hours. DC, other than Chicago, is the one place that when I get there, I truly feel like I'm home.

This meeting was put together by a pharmaceutical company. They brought in 12-14 hospitals - mostly academic medical centers. Each center was represented by a senior faculty person and a junior faculty or fellow. The focus was HIV. The goal was to anticipate what the future of HIV is going to be - who are the patients, what are their problems, what will doctors need to best treat them. We discussed what resources we, as physicians, are missing in dealing with HIV patients. We discussed our "wish list" of what we want. We discussed patient programs we'd like to see, social workers we'd like to have, and electronic medical records we'd like implemented. I met a lot of great people who are also passionate about fighting this disease.

I don't know that I am much of an expert, although I have a lot of opinions for sure. :) I was flattered to be asked to join this group. I hope my input, and the meeting in general, will help this company come up with ways to help physicians treat people with HIV. I came across a quotation by Seneca (a Roman philosopher in 1st century AD) in a magazine on the plane ride home: "Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity." I think this quotation is great because it reminds me that people who take advantage of situations and are able to turn them into success stories are people who worked and prepared so that when that one opportunity comes, they can make it a "lucky" one.

So, don't feel guilty that you got the promotion and someone else didn't. Alternatively, don't make yourself the victim in a situation that doesn't go your way. We all have to be working hard and preparing ourselves daily for that chance that happens to come - you never know when your "luck" will change.