What Keeps Infectious Disease Specialist Steven Gordon, MD, Excited about Medicine

When your mentor reaches out with an opportunity, you listen. Such was the case for Steven Gordon, MD, when David Longworth, MD, recruited him to Cleveland Clinic.

“He promised that it was a place to practice, to learn, to grow and to act as a unit in a culture of safety and respect, and he delivered on that promise,” says Dr. Gordon, Chair of the Department of Infectious Disease. “Twenty five years later, I have no regrets and marvel at the opportunities I have had. Not to mention how much I have enjoyed celebrating the successes of my colleagues!”

What sparked your interest in medicine?

I have always had a love for animals (except snakes!) and a curiosity about biology. My experiences as a third-year medical student in New York City in 1983 during the recognition of the AIDS epidemic sparked a passion for infectious diseases. That interest deepened during my tenure as an Epidemic Intelligence Officer at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta.

It was at the CDC where I learned healthcare epidemiology and undertook a dozen epidemic investigations across the U.S. It was also where I learned how to write an abstract and a medical manuscript (with lots of revisions). It was a tremendous experience, and I still keep in touch with many of my colleagues with whom I served.

What does effective leadership mean to you?

Leadership is about building capacity, not dependence. The highest form of leadership is teaching! If you as a leader can provide the right framework and questions, your team will have the answers.

There are many books on leadership but few on followership, yet you can’t have one without the other. All good leaders must attend to the followers’ basic needs of trust, compassion, stability and hope.

Ways you decompress?

I run each morning with my dogs, Milo and Lola; make a gratitude visit each day; and try to find the good and choose happy.

I enjoy reading books and have American Wolf: A True Story of Survival and Obsession in the West (Nate Blakeslee), My Ex-Life: A Novel (Stephen McCauley) and Unlikely General: Mad Anthony Wayne and the Battle for America (Mary Stockwell) on my nightstand.

What keeps you excited about the future of healthcare?

The many disruptors of healthcare. The new gene-editing tool CRISPR Therapeutics. Artificial intelligence. Machine learning. Optimization of cognitive learning of practitioners and machine. Amazon entering the healthcare space. The potential for blockchain technologies to deliver distant health across time and space.

Advice you would give to your 20-year-old self?

Don’t wonder if you are on the “right path” but make the most of the path you are on!