Excerpted from the inaugural address, May 3:

When I was a medical student, I spent considerable time editing our yearbooks. I found Sir William Osler's wisdom to be timeless, and I liberally sprinkled the pages with quotes from him. From the perspective of today's era, I think we can find a strong connection to his experience. Osler said, "Nothing will sustain you more potently than the power to recognize in your humdrum routine, as perhaps it may be thought, the true poetry of life -- the poetry of the commonplace, of the ordinary man, of the plain, toil-worn woman, with their loves and their joys, their sorrows and their griefs."

While Osler's observation captures the pride that I'm certain we all feel in calling ourselves physicians, it does not address the many unique difficulties we face today.

The 21st century is a complex social, scientific and moral environment riddled with onerous insurance requirements, skyrocketing liability premiums and sinking reimbursements.

While Osler did not know of our specific, modern day problems, he was certainly aware of the troubled emotions that many doctors encounter. He recognized that we sometimes feel like the battle is lost, and further efforts through our weariness and exhaustion simply won't matter.

Yet Osler constantly reminds us that we must be sustained in knowing that there is no higher and nobler human duty than that of being a physician caregiver.

Our definitive responsibility is service -- service to humanity through the physician-patient relationship.

In the coming year, we, as a Society, will continue to tackle issues that impact patients' access to care, and we will continue our efforts to improve the quality of that care. Our dedication in seeking industry changes -- or a complete overhaul for that matter -- directly reflects our dedication to patients.

Through system reform and the appropriate use of technology, particularly information technology, we will re-create a framework that will allow us to improve upon our committed service to patients.

Like the seven physicians who first came together in the very fractious, post-war environment of 1781 to form what is now the oldest continuous medical society in the United States… we have the opportunity to write our own chapter in this epic tale -- if we have the will, the courage and the strength to change ourselves and to transform others.

- Thomas E. Sullivan, M.D.