This evening, after Havdala, I will give you the stethoscope that I have used for many years. Take good care of it. It is a very fine instrument for examining the sounds of the heart. With study and training and practice, you will be able to learn much about the heart from its sounds.

Recent advances in medical technology have produced many powerful devices and techniques for more precise evaluation of cardiac disease and function. Some of these tests can be quite complicated. Magnetic resonance imaging, for example, requires the patient to be put into a huge device, much as a torpedo is inserted into a torpedo tube.

The stethoscope, by contrast, requires the physician to come to the patient's bedside and connects the ears and mind of the doctor to the heart and soul of the patient. I would hope that this instrument never becomes obsolete and that the beneficial bonding of the doctor to the patient will never be lost.

In the half century that I have been studying medicine, there has been a veritable explosion of new scientific information concerning biological processes and their relationship to human diseases and their treatment. I have been very fortunate to have spent all of my professional life in an academic setting where I could communicate closely with the basic scientists who are the engines of this progress.

As fascinating as discoveries are, we must never lose sight of the fact that the purpose of all of this new science is to improve our effectiveness in caring for patients and in prophylactic measures that may keep us all from becoming patients. This requires a cadre of physicians whose lives will be spent in keeping up with the evolving science while remaining closely and personally involved with the problems facing their patients.

I am thrilled that you have decided to become a doctor. I cannot think of a more useful, interesting, and satisfying way to spend one's life. Enjoy your academic journey! I hope you find it as exciting and rewarding as I have.

Mazel Tov.