Ahmad H. Adi

Hani J. Alturkmani

PubMed

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Physiologically lucky: the role of medical physiology
in modern medical education
An interview with Dr. John E. Hall
Ahmad H. Adi • Hani J. Alturkmani
Published online: 20 February 2013
 The Author(s) 2013. This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com
Keywords Physiology  Medical  Students  John E. Hall
Introduction
As medical students, we are entrusted with the responsibility of healthcare, and thus
are required to learn the fundamentals of many scientific and clinical disciplines. This
includes physiology. The variety of medical subjects cannot but leave students with
questions as to which is the most relevant to what they intend to pursue after their
graduation; the answer to this question differs from one medical speciality to the other.
We had the pleasure of interviewing Dr. John E. Hall, Chairman of the Department of
Physiology at the University of Mississippi Medical Center and author of the world
famous ‘Guyton and Hall Textbook of Medical Physiology’. The interview took place
at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, Mississippi, USA in
August 2011. Keeping it to a medical student perspective, we discussed Physiology in
the context of medical education: its current and future importance, as well as some
advice from Dr. Hall to the current generation of medical students.
Biography
Dr. John E. Hall, author of the world famous ‘Guyton and Hall Textbook of Medical
Physiology’, began college with a major in Journalism and English but had a change
Ahmad H. Adi and Hani J. Alturkmani have contributed to the conduction and revision of this interview.
Ahmad H. Adi was responsible for the writing up of the final form of the manuscript.
A. H. Adi (&)  H. J. Alturkmani
Alfaisal University, College of Medicine, P.O. Box 60285, Riyadh 11545, Saudi Arabia
email: aadi@alfaisal.edu
H. J. Alturkmani
e-mail: halturkmani@alfaisal.edu
123
Perspect Med Educ (2013) 2:99–103
DOI 10.1007/s40037-013-0044-5
of heart during his second year when he became more interested in science and
physiology. After graduating from Kent State University in 1968 he spent two years
in the army and then pursued graduate studies at Michigan State University, where he
became interested in cardiovascular physiology, mathematical modelling, systems
analysis and their application to physiology. He received a Ph.D. in physiology in
1974 and then worked with Dr. Arthur Guyton as a postdoctoral fellow at the
University of Mississippi Medical Center, where he was promoted to faculty in about
6 months and to full professor in 6 years. In 1989 he became Chairman of the
Department of Physiology when Dr. Guyton retired. He also serves as Associate Vice
Chancellor of Research. Dr. Hall has published more than 500 papers in peer-
reviewed journals, as well as 18 books including the ‘Textbook of Medical
Physiology’. He has received many awards for his research and has served as
President of the American Physiological Society, the Inter-American Society of
Hypertension, and the Council for High Blood Pressure Research of the American
Heart Association, as well as holding leadership positions in many other professional
organizations.
Ahmad: You did a lot of work, is there a secret to it? Is there something that
you found very helpful?
Hall: An important aspect of success in any field is to find something that you
really love. If you really love it, it’s not work, and if it’s not work, you don’t really
have to be driven to do it every day; you want to get going early, and it’s difficult to
go home every night, because you enjoy what you’re doing. Second, take your
briefcase home every night. By this I mean that you should be reading, studying and
thinking about your ‘work’ beyond the usual daily schedule. Often good ideas occur
when you are not at work. The third thing is that you should feel ‘lucky’. By this I
100 A. H. Adi, H. J. Alturkmani
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mean that you should have a very positive approach towards research and life.
Sometimes you get results that are not anticipated and you may initially be
disappointed. However, if you have a positive attitude, you see things from a
different perspective and can sometimes find a novel and important, although
unexpected, result. People who feel lucky usually are ‘lucky’.
Ahmad: How relevant is physiology, as a basic science, to clinical practice?
Do you need to be well aware of physiology to be a good doctor?
Hall: Every year the American Association of Medical Colleges asks graduating
medical students about how well the basic sciences have prepared them for clinical
training, and every year physiology is at the top. Therefore, graduating medical
students believe that physiology is highly relevant and important to their clinical
training.
Ahmad: the most famous thing that medical students know you about is the
book, the fact that you were the co-author of the book and now you are the
author of the Textbook of Medical Physiology. Do you actually know everything
in your book?
Hall: I hope so! But do I know everything about physiology? No. Physiology is a
rapidly evolving science and we are always learning new things about how the body
functions. I get letters almost every week from people all over the world who send me
ideas about new aspects of physiology that they think I should add to the book. The
Textbook of Medical Physiology, however, is not designed for research scientists; it
is designed to be a teaching tool and must not exceed too much what can be taught in
medical school. So whenever I add something new to the textbook, I also take
something out so that the volume of material does not grow too large for the students
Physiologically lucky 101
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to use effectively. Therefore, I am always faced with the challenge of determining
what new material should be added and what should be removed even though the
amount of knowledge about the physiology of the human body is rapidly expanding.
I always appreciate feedback from students, professors and clinicians about changes
in the book that they believe will make it more useful. However, I always try to keep
in mind that the book is written for students, not for research scientists.
Ahmad: How would you describe your relationship with Dr. Guyton, both
professionally and non-professionally? What did he like to do outside the lab,
what do you like to do outside the lab?
Hall: Dr. Guyton was a great mentor for me. His approach was to help trainees
identify important questions and whenever I proposed an experiment he would
usually ask ‘why is that important?’ He was also an inspiring role model outside the
lab and I was privileged to know Dr. Guyton for thirty years. He had ten children, all
successful physicians. He enjoyed sailing but, except for his family, he loved
physiology the most. Most of my ‘fun’ also revolves around research and physiology.
I do, however, enjoy sports and I like to go boating in my spare time.
Ahmad: how do you see physiology in the next 100 years? What are the hot
topics? How do you expect it to change?
Hall: Physiology will continue to be an exciting field of research for a long time
but I can’t predict scientific advances for the next 100 years. One example of a
physiology frontier is brain function and how it integrates other systems of the body.
We have a basic understanding of how various components of the nervous system
work, but we don’t know nearly as much about their coordinated interactions that
permit us to perform daily functions like walking, talking, and thinking in a complex
manner. There are many other areas that can be considered as ‘frontiers’ for
physiology research. We will have increasingly sophisticated tools that will permit
advances in genetics, in vivo imaging (including molecular imaging), tissue
engineering and organ regeneration, and others that will be the basis for many new
advances in physiology and medicine. The great beauty of physiology is that it seeks
to integrate the individual functions of the cells, tissues and organs into an
understanding of the function of the entire human body, which is much more than the
sum of its parts. Life relies on carefully controlled interactions of the body’s systems
and understanding these complex systems is one of the great challenges for
physiologists.
Conclusion
Physiology, like many other medical fields, is a discipline that is changing as new
discoveries are made. This interview only presents an example of how the changes in
this field can be incorporated into modern teaching of medicine, as Dr. Hall explains
about the process of editing ‘Guyton and Hall Textbook of Medical Physiology’.
Whether future frontiers of physiology will be incorporated into medical texts in an
easy-to-understand manner is yet to be known. But we can conclude that medical
education is, like physiology, an ever-changing concept, and adaptation to the newest
102 A. H. Adi, H. J. Alturkmani
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techniques and methods will be necessary in order to provide the best care by future
physicians.
Conflict of interest The authors report no declarations of interest.
Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License
which permits any use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and
the source are credited.
Author Biographies
Ahmad H. Adi is a fifth-year medical student at Alfaisal University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. He has had
research experience before in the field of physiology, mental health, and has an interest in medical
education and global health, aspiring to become a global figure on public health, medical education and
mental health.
Hani J. Alturkmani is a medical student in his fifth year of college. He is studying at Alfaisal University,
Riyadh city, Saudi Arabia. Hani has research experience in the US as he joined the Pharmacology labs of
the University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, MS.
Physiologically lucky 103
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Physiologically lucky: the role of medical physiology in modern medical education

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Physiologically lucky: the role of medical physiology in modern medical education

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