Hopkins is #1. Surprise!

http://health.usnews.com/health-news/best-hospitals/articles/2011/07/18/best-hospitals-2011-12-the-honor-roll

Johns Hopkins Hospital is #1 in the U.S. for the 21st year in a row. What does this mean to me? It means we, as employees, got free muffins on the hospital's dime.

In an email from the Dean:
Even as we acknowledge our collective delight with this long, unbroken string of top rankings, we want to give credit to those who really make Hopkins Hospital number one. No matter how historic or iconic, a building is merely bricks and mortar. It’s the dedicated people within that building who make it truly great. It’s you who provide the finest care to our patients and their families. You are at the center of our continual search for better treatment, better answers and better discoveries. Our hospital is exceptional because you are exceptional.

The bold part is really the only area I can take credit for. As researchers, we play a limited role in the day to day operations of the hospital. But some of the medical discoveries were driven by research done here.

I would like the think the phrase "Our hospital is exceptional because you are exceptional" was directed at me! Although I'm pretty sure it's directed more towards people like Dr. Patrick Walsh who pioneered work in the development of “the anatomic approach to radical prostatectomy”, which involves nerve-sparing techniques that have reduced the probability of impotence and incontinence. He just did his 4,567th and last surgery. Before him, nearly 100% of men that had a prostatectomy were impotent, so many of them decided to forego the treatment and ended up dying of metastasis that could have easily been avoided.