Remembering The Times Spent With Samuel Thier - Letter To The Editor

Michael S. Goligorsky

Samuel O. Thier MD (1937-2026) had a substantial and enduring impact on academic medicine in the USA. His meteoric career included serving as chief of the Renal Unit at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), vice chair of the Department of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, chair of the Department of Internal Medicine at Yale School of Medicine, president of the Institute of Medicine (now the National Academy of Medicine, president of Brandeis University and president of MGH and Partners Health care in Boston. His links to Israel and the Jewish community have received scant attention in numerous obituaries. (Editor’s introduction)

Having learned about the passing of Samuel O. Thier, MD, memories of his happy sabbatical year in Negev, Ben Gurion University Medical School, overwhelmed me and dulled the pain. Professor Thier, or as he insisted on being called, Sam, was at the time Chairman of the Department of Medicine at Yale, Hew Haven, and an internationally renowned physician-scientist nephrologist. His appearance in Beer Sheva in the early 80’s was akin to a Grand Master tournament played on multiple desks – and this is exactly what he did: lecturing students, advising nephrology fellows, examining the alleged Abrahamic wells in this city of Seven Wells, or listening to research of young physicians, entertaining his family and friends who followed him from New Haven to Negev desert. Being a young nephrologist at the time, I shadowed Sam: his lectures on water and electrolyte metabolism in health and disease were exemplary in their logical, laconic form of a built-up eventually reaching a filigree final structure and mechanisms of its imbalance. It has been a lifetime learning experience for me and many other young physicians.

When invited by Sam to spend three months at Yale, I happily acceded and renewed attending his rounds with residents or discussion of enigmatic cases. It was an intellectual treat to listen to Sam’s dissection of symptomatology, its pathophysiological underpinnings, and arrival at diagnostic options and necessary subsequent steps. Residents were clearly uplifted by his analyses, and he deeply cared about them. When someone was not up-to-speed, Sam would reject the proposal to dismiss the resident in question rather assigning a faculty member to bring the resident to the required level. His unique memory brought half-forgotten facts and small-scripted data to discussions; however, when he was uncertain of some details, like the half-life of a medication, Sam would unabashedly consult Harrison’s textbook. His memory carried events and details of people he had encountered over the years; for example, years later he stunned me by asking about my dog and remembering his name. He was continuously open to new information, remembered people once met and was genuinely interested in them - Sam’s relations with Yale students were of utmost importance to him: he cherished being invited of all the faculty to their communal Hall dinners and was curious in every detail of their life, engaging in their problems and inquiring on ways to assist them.

Had there been a Book of Good Deeds (Mitzvot), Sam’s would occupy multiple volumes. Sam and his wife Paula embraced me with their kindness during my visit to Yale; Paula, though busy with collecting an auditory library of Holocaust survivors’ voices and remembrances, spent her time in helping me to settle at New Haven, negotiate an acceptable rent, and navigate me as to the nearby places I would be advised to avoid. Sam, in turn, had introduced me to the American pastimes – Superball and chicken wings! All his family emanated kindness and warmth. In the late1980s, Sam was visiting Washington University in Saint Louis, found me and questioned me on life, projects, and prospects. With this conversation he took me along to a meeting with some VIP faculty members and, still keeping me within that group, started expounding to a chairman who had a long history of remaining in his position, that his (Sam’s) ideal was to stay in the same position for not more than 7 years, thus completing initial plans and projects for the place, and then moving ahead to a new position and role. I was an unwilling witness of this rebuke, but the entirety of Sam’s career argues in favor of his seriousness in following this credo. 

When many years later Samuel Thier, at the time the President of Partners Healthcare, was invited to the inauguration of my Endowed Chair at New York Medical College, despite his busy schedule, he graciously accepted this invitation. His goodwill and friendship were unconditional. So that at the end of the day, it is painful to realize that a wise and kind friend and mentor will never again visit you. May his memory be blessed.

Michael S Goligorsky, MD, PhD.

Professor Emeritus, New York Medical College at Touro University.

Visiting Professor, Technion Medical School, Haifa.

Previous Article