Surgery for Obesity and Related Diseases 11 (2015) 283

Editorial

A Tribute to Dr. Edward E. Mason, M.D. I am very happy to participate in this tribute to Dr. Edward E. Mason. I thank you for all your teaching and the good times we have shared. I am forever grateful for the privilege you extended to immerse myself in the medical world of academia. The years of my collaboration with Dr. Mason, from 1980–2001, were exciting and productive. Recently when the American College of Surgeons published the compendium: 100 Years of Surgical Quality Improvement and Revolutionary Advances, Dr. Mason was cited with the following accolade: “1966: University of Iowa Surgeon, Edward E. Mason, M.D., FACS, put into practice the idea of taking the undesirable weight loss effect of gastric resection, and using the procedure to treat obesity.” Today, we proclaim your historic and momentous contributions! We praise you for the beneficial influence, guidance, and inspiration delivered over the past fortyeight years. The record of your lifetime achievements is outstanding. Our gratitude to you is profound. We express special thanks to you for the following brilliant teachings and accomplishments. They include, but are not limited to: 1. The rejection of the myth that severe obesity was a capital sin called gluttony. 2. For recognizing that severe obesity is an epidemic disease that is intractable without sustained weight loss. 3. For discovering, with Chikashi Ito, through pioneering animal laboratory research, that gastric bypass

suppresses gastrin secretion and thereby protects against duodenal and marginal ulcers. 4. For rescuing morbidly obese patients from the consequences of the jejunal-ileal bypass procedure and providing them with a safer alternative. 5. For setting the standards that any operation for severe obesity be safe, reversible, predictable, effective for the lifetime of the patient, and have very few side effects. 6. For advocating the importance of a dedicated team of caregivers from supportive disciplines to provide safety and well-being for severely obese patients before and after bariatric surgery. 7. For initiating the Bariatric Surgery Colloquium at the University of Iowa in 1977. This provided a meaningful forum for those who had an interest and/or experience in bariatric surgery to come together to share information. 8. For insistently supporting standards of measurement and verification of clinical outcomes with longitudinal data. You have transformed for the better the worldview on the care and treatment of severe obesity. You have lived your vocation as physician, surgeon, teacher, leader, and innovator with the full commitment of your mind, body, heart, and soul for the benefit of humankind. We are in awe of your magnificent legacy! Dr. Mason, we honor you and express to you our gratitude for your lifetime achievements.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.soard.2014.12.022 1550-7289/r 2015 American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery. All rights reserved.

Cornelius Doherty, M.D

A tribute to Dr. Edward E. Mason, M.D.

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