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Key Takeaways:

  • The author transitioned from an administrative role as a surgery chairman back to practicing surgery, finding greater personal satisfaction in focusing on his craft despite less pay and a change in status.
  • He pursued his passion for aviation, including flying a new plane across the Atlantic, but put plans for a commercial pilot's license on hold due to a downturn in the corporate flying market.
  • He co-founded the Surgical Safety Institute, an initiative applying aviation safety principles (like CRM and checklists) to medicine, finding profound satisfaction in making a significant difference in patient safety.
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In October of last year I retired from the University of South Florida after 25 years of consecutive employment in its medical college. I had served in several capacities during my tenure; ending as chairman of the surgery department for the last nine-plus years. Change is always challenging and I really had very little idea as to what to expect.

So far, so good. I have landed happily back where I started, as a working, not an administrative, surgeon. I operate at the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, an institution I helped found; I did the first surgical operation there in 1986. So it isn’t retirement exactly, but it is a profound change in my life.

Dick Karl

Dick Karl is a cancer surgeon who appreciates the beauty and science involved in both surgery and flying. Dick’s monthly Gear Up celebrates the human side of flying. He writes about his enthusiasm for both the machines and the people who fly and maintain them.

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