John P. McGovern, MD by Boutwell Bryant;Bliss Michael;

Author:Boutwell, Bryant;Bliss, Michael; [Boutwell, Bryant]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Texas A&M University Press
Published: 2014-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

FIGURE 4.5. Grant Taylor, former head of the US Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission, went on to head the pediatrics program at M. D. Anderson.

Houston Bound—1956

The immense opportunity that Houston offered should have made the decision to move there an easy one for a man as driven to succeed as McGovern. But it was not easy; in fact, he agonized over it, examining every pro and con exhaustively. McGovern was an ambitious man, but he was also fundamentally a careful one. He remembered all too well his first faculty appointment at George Washington University, where he had found his need for more laboratory space and support largely ignored, and where he had found administrative duties encroaching on what he meant to be his life’s work (as was happening again at Tulane). He had been at Tulane only two years. It was 1956; forty was only a few years down the road. He must have felt pressure to make a commitment that would last and that he could truly build on. He did not want a false start. He did not want to make a mistake.

Nevertheless, it was clear that something special was happening in Houston—unique, once-in-a-lifetime opportunities were opening up, and he could not pass over them lightly.

Caution and opportunity were butting heads.

Osler, a role model in so many ways, had flipped a coin to determine his career move from Montreal to Philadelphia. But McGovern was leaving nothing to chance. He invested weeks in a close review of the possibilities in Houston. The process began with long conversations with Davison, Taylor, and a trusted network of pediatricians and allergists developed over the years. The rigorous decision-making at this point in McGovern’s story is of more than casual interest, because it stemmed from a process that characterized the man and demonstrates the business savvy that was the engine of his future wealth, his foundation, and his immense success as founder of Houston’s McGovern Allergy Clinic.

To have the faith in himself that Osler had pronounced critical to success, McGovern would break down a big decision and analyze it piece by piece, then put it back together again.52 He did this repeatedly until all the parts of the decision made perfect sense and fit neatly together in his mind’s eye. His ability to assimilate information from many sources and then to act intelligently and decisively on it would persist throughout his career and would account for much of his achievement.53

Although McGovern had talked to colleagues about this decision throughout the period he was making it, a meeting in Beaumont, Texas, in early 1956 seemed to turn the tide. There his inclination met with solid reinforcement from fellow allergists and, in addition, with promises of patient referrals when he got his practice going. Harold Bevil, one of the allergists McGovern sought out at that meeting, had also trained at Tulane under Ralph Platou before starting his own pediatric allergy practice in Beaumont. Bevel had a unique perspective on Tulane training and had the practical experience

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