David Lange, MD
What first brought you to NASS, and what do you remember about the early years?
David Selby was leading a breakout session at the AAOS meeting in early 1984. I introduced myself and told him I was the lone "spine guy" in a large orthopedic office in St. Louis, having nobody to discuss diagnostic challenges or difficult cases with. He suggested I might have an interest in a new, somewhat informal society that would be meeting in July in Vail. It might be called the North American Spine Association and I'd be the 43rd member. It turned out some other group already had the acronym NASA. Obviously, we evolved from NASA to NALSA and lastingly to NASS.
The first day of the fledgling society, I was riding the hotel elevator, wearing a Skyline Chili tee shirt. Jay Kaiser recognized it, commenting he had trained in both St. Louis and Cincinatti. After hearing that I was attending alone, he and his wife volunteered to introduce me around and did so; at least to the Saal brothers, Ken Heitoff, and a half dozen other new members.
Can you share your favorite NASS memory?
I first wore a dress shirt and tie at the Annual Meeting at the Sagamore Hotel in Bolton Landing, NY when I was delivering my first scientific paper. I presented 20 patients who had undergone single-level lumbar discectomies: 10 with a single dose of epidural morphine and 10 without. I felt pretty good about the presentation; at least until Chuck Burton took the podium to review the paper. He started with: "In our experience with over 200 cases...." After we all stopped laughing, I took my seat. Jeff Saal leaned over and whispered in my ear: "Welcome to the Big Boy Club."
Was there a particular project, committee, or initiative you were proud to be a part of? What made it memorable?
I served on the Membership Committee for a decade, the last five as chairman. It's been quite awhile, but I'd still like to again thank the physician members and staff for the many hours of hard work. We did have a recurring challenge; namely, reminding the membership and applicants that our society is one of education and not certification.
Looking back, what was one of the biggest challenges the spine field faced during your active years, and how was it addressed?
I think the biggest challenge from day one has been our relationship with industry, both as individual physicians and as a society.
If you could preserve one lesson or philosophy for future generations of spine care providers, what would it be?
Always put your spouse or partner and kids first.
What did you learn from patients that changed how you approached your work or saw your role in the field?
One of the things I learned early on was that patients are people first and not disease states or anatomic anomalies. They are not the "syringomyelia in room 304" or the "myelo in the waiting room." They are Bob Smith and two-year-old Timmy Johnson with his entire family. Patients taught me that my personality and treatment influenced the entire household.