Circulation 36,825 • Volume 18, No. 4 • Winter 2003   Issue PDF

Ellison C. (Jeep) Pierce, Jr., MD, Retires From APSF

Dr. Stoelting (left) honors Dr. Pierce with a plaque at the APSF Board of Directors Meeting.

The APSF and ASA Meetings held this past October in San Francisco witnessed a landmark event, the retirement of Ellison C. (Jeep) Pierce, Jr., MD, from his position as Executive Director of the Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation. Jeep is truly the father of patient safety, both in the United States and abroad. His dedication, persistence, enthusiasm, and hard work led to the formation of the Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation, which served as the model for the National Patient Safety Foundation and numerous similar international organizations. The celebrations held in Jeep’s honor were bittersweet, sweet with the love and admiration that so many hold for this amazing man and his accomplishments, and sad with the knowledge that he is now retiring from the APSF. Jeep has served as a role model and mentor for many anesthesiologists and leaders in the field of patient safety; his influence has been and continues to be enormous. Like so many men of greatness, Jeep’s contributions will continue to be recognized, recounted, and rediscovered, long after his retirement. Please join with the Executive Committee and the Board of Directors of the APSF in wishing Jeep a long and happy retirement, replete with the knowledge of the lives he has touched and the lives he has saved.

Ellison C. (Jeep) Pierce, Jr., MD, was joined by members of his family at the 2003 APSF-FAER Dinner to honor his contributions to patient safety on the occasion of his retirement from the APSF.