Welcome

Welcome to Ideals of Medicine!

We are a community dedicated to promoting the most noble ideals of medicine - ideals that have served as the foundation of the medical profession and have inspired people throughout the ages.

Over time, the practice of medicine has met challenges to these ideals. Stresses imposed by various forces have led often to a divergence of mission and narrative away from the care of patients to the service of systems and other interests.

Through conversations with medical leaders and other educational content, our mission is to reclaim the mission and narrative of medicine, as defined by our physician's oath, which is not to serve “the system,” but to serve the suffering.

To the left, we have a picture of the renowned Dr. Rudolph Virchow (1821 - 1902), a pioneer of medical pathology and "social medicine". He famously implored, "Physicians are the natural attorneys to the poor" - a reminder to strive towards the ideals of service, justice and compassion in our practice and policies of our medical professions.