ADDRESS TO THE SCHOOL BY HEADMASTER: 24 FEBRUARY 2010

Today we honour another old boy of the School who has proved to be arguably a world leader in his field.

He is Professor Michael Ezekowitz who is a practicing cardiologist and Professor of Medicine at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia the USA. He also fills the position of Vice President at two important research organisations – the Lankenau Institute and the Clinical Research unit of Main Line Hospitals.

It is seldom that a family can boast two world leaders. Last year we honoured his brother, Dr Alan Ezekowitz, when he visited SA last year. His brother Alan made his mark in the field of haematology and oncology (i.e. blood and cancer diseases).

Professor Michael Ezekowitz, however, has become renowned for his speciality in Cardiology i.e. a medical specialty dealing with disorders of the heart. The field includes diagnosis and treatment of congenital heart defects, coronary artery disease, heart failure and valvular heart disease. I have learnt this morning that the heart comprises two aspects – the mechancial pumping components and the electrical components. It is the electrical components, the arrhythmias that are Prof Ezekowitz’s focus.

He was here on this campus from primary school Class 1 to Matric and matriculated here in 1963. Lots happened at the School in 1963. Plans were in progress for the girls to leave to go to their new campus, the ‘new’ school hall as built. It is coincidental that this month that facility is going through major transformation. Mr Bowden completed his tenure as Principal, and he was succeeded by Mr Comins. Also a ‘new’ library was built. The venue for that you now know as Room 224, the classroom at the top of the blue carpeted stairs.

Prof Ezekowitz saw those aspects of our history first-hand. Apart from being a very good student, he was also an accomplished sportsman. He received Colours for both Cricket and Rugby and he was a Student Leader – they were called Prefects in those days. The School magazine shows that he used his brain in playing for the First Rugby team through the way in which he adapted to the experimental Rugby rules of that time. In the Cricket world he proved to be an accomplished all-rounder, top-scoring in many innings and taking wickets.

After matriculating, he studied Medicine at UCT and then went on to get his Doctorate at London University. He then received his certification in Cardiology and was awarded an honorary degree by the Royal College of Physicians, and an honorary MA at one of the ivy-league universities in the USA, the Yale University School of Medicine.

He has done clinical and research training at various places including Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town and the University of Natal and overseas. He trained at Groote Schuur during the time of the world’s first heart transplant performed by Chris Barnard. As a young medical student he managed to sneak in to observe this historic operation.  His training the USA was at the John Hopkins Medical School in Baltimore, and he went on to the Yale New Haven Hospital for 18 years and rose to the position of full Professor at Yale.

His professional experience is very significant. He was Assistant Professor and or Professor of Medicine at the Universities of Oklahoma, Yale and Drexel. He filled the positions of Director of various centres such as the Oklahoma Coronary Care Unit, The Human Cell Labelling Laboratory at Yale, the Cardiovascular Thrombosis Research Laboratory and the Clinical Trials Office at Yale. He has been the attending physician at Hahnemann Hospital and the Medical College of Pennyslvania Hospital, two world-renowned centres of cardiology.

He has served on numerous Medical Councils and Committees and Boards of Directors such as the Society of Geriatric Cardiology, and the Judging Panel for the Young Investigators Awards for Mollecular and Cellular Cardiology, and he has directed many courses for various universities and medical societies.

He is a sought-after lecturer who presents topics at numerous medical seminars each year, and he covers topics not only on heart disorders but also topics such as varied as How to Write an Outstanding Paper, Drug Therapy, and Stroke Prevention.

He is involved in very high level clinical trials which direct new strategies in medicine and new drugs. The current one he is involved in is across 44 countries and is on the topic of blood thinning. This project has been recognised by the medical journals as the top cardiovascular medical advance in 2009 and is expcted to change the whole course of medicine. This takes him all over the world in doing presentations on their findings.

He is a well-known author with a long list of publications which appeared in the top medical journals such as the New England Medical Journal and have been used by his peers in the medical profession to further knowledge in medicine. It is a very daunting list of topics.

I cannot imagine what they cover, but I am going to read you just a few of the titles. I have heard some of the words in these titles in TV shows such as ER or Grey’s Anatomy or even Scrubs, but imagine how you would tackle these topics these if you were required to write an essay or present a research topic on them:

·         The effect of aging and cholestoral feeding on the permeability of the cockeral aorta to albumin.

·         Discreet left ventrical aneurisms as identified with indium-111 platelet scintography.

·         Should patients with large anterior wall myocardial infarction have echocardiography to identify left ventricular thrombus and should they be anti-coagulated?

Maybe some people in your families are being treated for disorders like these without knowing it. Maybe you will benefit from Prof Ezekowitz’s work when you are 60, 70 or 80 years old.

Prof Ezekowitz, we congratulate you on your achievements, hard work and dedication in the field of Medicine and particularly in his focus area of Cardiology.  You are arguably a world leader in your field and this serves a fine example to those of us at WBHS who might also ant to follow in your footsteps one day. You have done much to further the cause of medical knowledge and we appreciated that your work has done much to assist and guide doctors all over the world in resolving many of the medical dilemmas that face them in the course of their duties.   

You are a most deserved recipient of our Old Boys’ Pro Meritis Award and your name will be inscribed on our Honours Board in the foyer of the Roy Couzens Hall.