Dr. Amy Goldberg Lauded at Investiture Ceremony
It was 11 minutes after its expected 4 p.m. start time when Larry Kaiser, MD, FACS, stepped to the podium and announced that the investiture ceremony for Amy Goldberg, MD, FACS, could begin.
“Amy told me it was OK to start,” he quipped.
The late start came because of the large number of guests still pouring through the doors. In fact, it was standing room only on March 16 for the investiture of Dr. Goldberg as the George S. Peters, MD and Louise C. Peters Chair of Surgery at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University (LKSOM).
From current residents to long-retired colleagues and everyone in between, they came to honor Dr. Goldberg for her decades of service to Temple and recognize her for the exceptional leadership she provides the Department of Surgery.
“It’s no secret that I think the world of Amy Goldberg as a leader, colleague and friend,” said Dr. Kaiser, The Lewis Katz Dean at LKSOM, President and CEO of Temple University Health System, and Senior Executive Vice President for Health Affairs for Temple University. “She is a realistic idealist, driven by a powerful commitment to do what’s right.”
Dr. Kaiser went on to laud Dr. Goldberg for her years of service as Chief of Trauma and Critical Care at Temple University Hospital, her teaching acumen, her commitment to organ donation, and her nationally-recognized advocacy activities around violence prevention.
“Nobody pours herself into this institution the way Amy does,” he said. “Nobody works harder, or is smarter, or cares more about our patients, residents, fellows, students and the community quite the way Amy does.”
Other speakers at the ceremony included Wallace Ritchie, Jr., MD, PhD, the former Chair of Surgery at LKSOM and the person who hired Dr. Goldberg in 1993. He praised her as a unique and wonderful person. “She came, she saw, she conquered,” he said simply. “It’s no surprise to me that she is Chair today.”
Rounding out the speakers were John Migaly, MD, a former Temple resident who is now Program Director of the General Surgery Residency Program and Associate Professor of Colon and Rectal Surgery at Duke University Medical Center, and Michael Bentz, MD, FAAP, FACS, an LKSOM alumnus and resident and current Interim Chair of Surgery at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health.
“Amy has a nearly fatiguing level of enthusiasm,” Dr. Bentz said with a chuckle, “almost like having your little sister with you. But with Amy, it’s genuine.”
For her part, Dr. Goldberg thanked a long list of colleagues past and present. She also reminisced about her first Temple contract.
“It was one page and didn’t include much more than my salary. I wasn’t sure if I should ask for more money or even have a lawyer look at it. When Dr. Ritchie called, I said I had a couple of questions to which he replied, ‘Sign it, Amy, and send it back.’ And I did exactly that. I had been given the only job I ever wanted, to be a trauma surgeon at Temple University Hospital. That was in 1993 and I’ve never looked back.”
“I am so very proud to stand before you today as a Temple surgical resident, a Temple trauma surgeon, and now as the George S. Peters and Louise C. Peters Chair of Surgery.”
The Peters Chair of Surgery is named after George S. Peters, MD, a 1933 graduate of LKSOM and a staunch supporter of the school for decades. Dr. Peters passed away in 2005 at the age of 100. His gifts to LKSOM over the years totaled nearly $5 million.
In addition to serving as the Peters Chair of Surgery, Dr. Goldberg is Professor of Surgery, Surgeon-in-Chief of the Temple University Health System, and Medical Director of Perioperative Services for Temple University Hospital.