The Amphitheater
On-line Lectures

The Internet and Neurosurgery:
a letter from John Shillito, MD

It is a pleasure to respond to an invitation to join in the remarks on the occasion of the opening of the Boston Neurosurgical Foundation World Wide Web Home Page.

From the time I joined the Neurosurgical Service at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Children's Hospital as Assistant Resident in 1954 until the 1990s, I had steadfastly refused to become computer literate. Finally, the Brigham and Women's Hospital decreed that we would review and correct our operative reports on their computer system and we had to learn what those arrows meant and where the delete button was.

When I was putting my neurosurgical practice to bed in the summer of 1995, Dr. Peter Black and the members of the Neurosurgical Staff gave me a going away present. It was not a gold watch, but instead something far more special, a Power Macintosh, printer and fax machine. The PowerPC was loaded with software which I am still learning to use and I was coached in the basics of its operation on several occasions by our most computer literate resident, Tom Moriarty.

Since Bunny and I have moved to North Carolina, these devices have provided ever-increasing pleasure, and I have been e -mailing all over Boston and from England to Japan, sometimes with success! Other neurosurgeons have already created a list of e-mail addresses of all professed "Pediatric" neurosurgeons. Our major neurosurgical societies have established their Home-Pages. Out of the "chip-work" have appeared several old pals who found my on-line address on my new letterhead. I can envision the Web as a wonderful way to keep track not only of what is going on at our former home-site in Boston, but in finding former residents who have taken new jobs, done important things, are planning to attend upcoming meetings, or passing through our neighborhood.

Finally, think of our problem in keeping up. Any way of short-cutting to the facts we need can be so valuable.

"Every January 1, like the ne'er-do-well children of a wealthy family, we are presented with a handsome sum (more than half a million) which is ours to spend, the only stipulation being that we do so within the coming twelve months.

"Each of us is given, not the dollars you are all thinking about, but 525,600 minutes with which to build a life."

This article from the New Yorker magazine caught our eye several years ago, and has been a recurring reminder of the need to make good and happy use of every moment, the more poignant when one appreciates how many of those 525,600 minutes per year have already slipped by.

With a well-planned and thoughtfully and promptly updated Boston Neurosurgical Home Page, we will all be able to take another short-cut to what we need.

Good luck to you all, and do keep in touch!

JOHN SHILLITO, MD
johnsmd@aol.com
August 31, 1996

Dr. John Shillito, a pioneer in pediatric neurosurgery, was trained by Dr. Franc Ingraham. A contemporary or Dr. Donald Matson, Dr. Shillito began his career at Children's Hospital and Brigham and Women's Hospital in 1954.

From that time until his retirement in 1995, he was a humanizing and energizing force on the Neurosurgical Service. His great clinical skill, his wise and compassionate care of patients and his patience in teaching made him one of the most revered members of the faculty. This year the Boston Neurosurgical Service has created the endowed Shillito Fellowship in Pediatric Neurosurgery in his honor. For more information on this Fellowship, please click on Educational Opportunities.

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