By Sujit K. Pandit, MD
Editor' Note: As the year comes to a close Dr. Sujit K. Pandit, Professor of Anesthesiology, retires from the department after 40 years as a practicing anesthesiologist. His retirement is effective December 31, 1999, then, January 1, 2000 he becomes a Professor Emeritus. He plans to remain in Ann Arbor with his wife, Dr. Uma Pandit, also an anesthesiologist at the U-M, who is not yet ready to retire, and both his daughters who are still in school in Ann Arbor. He plans to help the department by working part-time. In the meantime, he is taking classes in piano and Spanish (to prepare himself for retirement), and plans to read a large number of classic books that he always wanted to read. He will continue to take classes at Washtenaw Community College and plans to travel overseas to third-world countries periodically to teach and perform humanitarian work.
Dr. Tremper announced Dr. Pandit’s retirement at the Residents’ Graduation Dinner held June 19, 1999 at the Michigan Union. Dr. Pandit gave the following speech extemporaneously. He subsequently typed it up for all of us to enjoy.
I am told that when a man is about to die, his whole past life comes before his eyes in a flash. On the eve of my retirement, I am having a similar flashback of my past life. I am thinking in amazement about where I came from and where I am finishing. I was born and grew up in a small village in India (now a different country called Bangladesh). This village had no electricity, no running water, no indoor or outdoor plumbing and very few brick houses. The only motorized vehicle I saw was a rickety bus that used to pass through our dusty village once a day. I fondly remember my early life in that wonderful, primitive, and quiet little village called Jamalpur. It was a happy childhood.
Then came the awesome tragedy. In 1947, India was divided and my village fell in that part of the country where the ethnic Hindus suddenly became “unwanted”. A most horrible ethnic cleansing effort ensued, which was many times more horrific than the modern day ethnic cleansing attempt in Kosovo. Thousands died and I became a refugee in another part of India at the age of 12. There, I picked up the journey of my life again, and today, as I am about to retire I find myself a professor at the premier institute of the world, the University of Michigan.
During all these eventful years, spent in several countries, I have experienced all kinds of emotions. I have been very happy many times, I have been sad a lot of times, I have even been very resentful occasionally. However, the overriding thought that comes to me today, is that all my life, I have been so very lucky. As a child, even in my wildest dreams I could not have imagined how my life would turn out. Indeed, I have been so lucky.
I have been very lucky in my family life. I am lucky for my wonderful wife, Uma, who has been my companion and inspiration for the last 30 years, and for my two lovely daughters Anita and Anjali. During all these years, working at so many different medical centers in three different continents, I have been always very lucky to have the most understanding co-workers and colleagues. Fellow anesthesiologists, nurses, nurse anesthetists, OR room personnel, administrative personnel, and others, for some inexplicable reason have always been unusually supportive of me. During 40 years of my work as an anesthesiologist in India, the United Kingdom and in the U.S., I have had a chance to work with numerous surgeons. I came to respect their work and dedication, and I found that by far the majority of the surgeons that I have worked with were genuinely appreciative of the work that I have done as an anesthesiologist. Unfortunately, an adversarial relationship sometimes exists between a surgeon and the anesthesiologist, and this could be unsettling. I have been very lucky to have very pleasant and friendly working relationships with almost all of my surgical colleagues. I owe my thanks to all of them.
Above all, I have been very lucky to have scores of enthusiastic residents, fellows, eager junior colleagues, medical students, research collaborators and other trainees who have made my job as a teacher and academician over the last 40 years not only challenging but also most enjoyable. I thank all of them.
I must at this point salute some of my own teachers and mentors who helped shape my life. I owe these people all of my gratitude, because they are the very reason why I am here today. First of all, I would like to remember my first anesthesia teacher back in India, where I started my anesthesia career in 1960, Dr. BL Bhattacharjee. Those are the days when open drop ether anesthesia was the norm, although we did have “modern” anesthetics like nitrous oxide, trichloretherlene, thiopental and d-tubocurarine. Even at that time Dr. Bhattacharjee not only taught me the ‘art’ of anesthesia but he always emphasized the importance of the ‘science’ of anesthesia. He taught me to ask why, not just how. The second teacher I would like to mention was Professor John W. Dundee at the Queens University of Belfast, North Ireland. He taught me the fundamentals of clinical research. He made sure that I understood the importance of a good control group in any well-designed clinical research. The third person that I would like to remember is Dr. Peter J. Cohen, who actually brought me here to the U-M in 1976, my workplace for the last 24 years. Dr. Cohen was not only one of the brightest anesthesiologists I have ever met, he taught me the importance of being loyal. Dr. Cohen gave 100% loyalty to all his co-workers, subordinates and residents, and they in turn, gave wholehearted loyalty back to him. It was amazing. The last boss that I would like mention is my current chief, Dr. Kevin Tremper. Dr. Tremper has been the most dynamic chief I have ever worked with. He has the vision of a philosopher and shrewdness of a brilliant politician. I was fortunate to have many other teachers at different places, too many to mention, who taught me what I know. However, undoubtedly, my residents and medical students have always been my best teachers. I owe my gratitude to all of them. Thank you.