Abstract
This article is adapted from an address that Dr. McQuarrie delivered to the Minnesota Surgical Residents Society on June 15, 1999, as he was honored as the society's Surgical Alumnus of the Year. A somewhat longer version of his address appeared in the January 2000 issue of The Cutting Edge, a newsletter published for the Department of Surgery at the University of Minnesota (UM) Medical School. Dr. McQuarrie is a professor of surgery, a former vice-chairman of the Department of Surgery at the UM Medical School, and a former chief of surgery at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Minneapolis.