Giants Interview - Robert Cerfolio

Dr. cerfolio is not only an inspiring surgeon but also an inspiring teacher, human being and friend. It has been a privilege to be associated with him. a superperformer

Cerf, you are absolutely the best! I bought you're book, as you talked about it at the GTSC meeting this year, got through it in a few days and am now re-reading it. It has a great message and some very practical pointers. I remember seeing your talk about relating coaching strategies to surgery at the New York Thoracic Surgery Club meeting some years ago, when your son had just started at Yale. It's an amazing accomplishment to get your ideas published. Congratulations!

Professor Cerfolio I am pleased and honored to know you, to come to your hospital and learn from you. Before coming to Birmingham, I accessed to your information online, know that you are a well-known expert on palmar hyperhidrosis and robotic thoracic surgery. I also know that you are a wise man, an excellent orator, a good writer. After I came Bermingham and saw you, your skills and charm confirmed my initial view on you. And also, I find that you are a hospitable man, a man of passion and energy, a skilled, excellent and hard-working surgeon. You are a great surgeon. You love life, and work with natural enthusiasm. You know the principle and secrete of medical education. You can feel the warm humanity behind the cold medicine. This is why you are a super performer in life and in work. I am also a surgeon with great interest in medical education, and I also like to write some medical humanity articles. this is why I think I am lucky to know you, we have common language. Although I have not seen the well-known book you wrote--- Performing At Work and At Home: The Athleticism of Surgery and Life. I am full of expectations. I will take it to China. And I decide to invite my medical students together, to translate it into Chinese, and then publish in the Chinese press. I hope more Chinese doctors and medical students could benefit from this book. Thank you again, for this wonderful dinner, for all your kind arrangements during my stay here. I believe we could be good friends, life-long friends, forever.

Very inspiring ideas