The following is the text of the presentation of the Massachusetts Medical Society’s Presidential Citation to Virginia T. Latham, M.D., as given before the House of Delegates by MMS President James S. Gessner, M.D. on December 2, 2016.
Mr. Speaker and Members of the House of Delegates, I now have the rare honor and privilege of presenting a Massachusetts Medical Society Presidential Citation to one of our colleagues who has served our society in so many ways with the utmost grace, humility, and distinction – Dr. Virginia Latham.
Her contributions to our Society and organized medicine are many, span more than three decades, and reflect a distinguished commitment to our profession.
She has been a member of the House of Delegates and the Board of Trustees, a member and chair of many Committees and Task Forces, President of the Middlesex Central District Medical Society, and a delegate to the American Medical Association.
She has served as President of the Massachusetts Branch of the American Medical Women’s Association, a Board Member of Partners Community Healthcare, and President of the Medical Staff at Emerson Hospital.
In 2000, Dr. Latham became President of the Massachusetts Medical Society, only the third women elected to lead our membership, and her leadership led to significant accomplishments.
Under her tenure, our society made its mark in the area of patient safety, with the passage of a landmark Patient Bill of Rights.
We upheld stringent requirements for patient privacy and confidentiality, as new regulations at the time – the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act – came into being. And she co-chaired the search committee for a new editor for the New England Journal of Medicine – an activity that resulted in the appointment of our current editor, Dr. Jeffrey Drazen.
As a member of the MMS Committee on Women in Medicine, later as president, and to this very day, Dr. Latham has served as an inspiration and role model to all physicians and those contemplating a career in medicine.
On the 25th anniversary of the MMS Committee on Women in Medicine in 2006, the Committee published a book of personal stories of 22 women physicians. The title of the book is When You Don’t Fit the Mold, Make a New One.
Virginia Latham did just that.
She came to our profession after 16 years of marriage and five sons. Having a delayed start in such a demanding profession, however, did not curtail her achievements as a physician.
Permit me to share a personal note, about the first time I met Ginger.
In the last months of their training at New England Deaconess Hospital, residents and fellows in medicine would spend several mornings reviewing principles of airway management and resuscitation with physicians in the Department of Anesthesia.
It was here that I met Ginger for several of those sessions in the Farr 5 operating room. Her enthusiasm, interest, and earnestness as she was preparing to begin practice were immediately apparent, and I remember what an enjoyable experience it was.
Let me also take you back to June 30, 2004, when the Committee on Women in Medicine sponsored an event entitled an Evening with the Women Presidents of the MMS.
That evening, Dr. Latham shared her thoughts about her career, along with the first two MMS women presidents, Dr. Barbara Rockett and Dr. Marylou Buyse.
Dr. Latham’s thoughts have been captured as part of the book of personal stories, and I would like to share just a few of those with you.
In speaking to her colleagues, she talked about achieving a balance in life, and that balancing medicine as a career and having a family was not an impossible dream. She talked about setting priorities, and establishing values.
And she talked about being a physician. Here is what she said:
“You are going to have the joy of a lifelong career that really is life-long. You can always be doing something that is exciting and rewarding…. You will have a sense of accomplishment when you look back on your life because no matter what you do, even if you are just seeing patients every day, you are accomplishing a lot.
We have opportunities to make a difference – a difference to one individual or to the world – every day. Maybe you’ll help solve the health care crisis…. Maybe you’ll establish new cardiac guidelines…. Maybe you’ll help a mom and a baby through a difficult delivery, or maybe you’ll just hold someone’s hand…. But you’ve made a difference every single day of your life.”
Written and spoken more than decade ago, those are words that capture the character of Dr. Virginia Latham, and those are words that are just as relevant today and those are words that each of us as physicians would do well to remember.
It is with great pride that I present the Massachusetts Medical Society Presidential Citation to Dr. Virginia Latham.
