Presidential address: our third leg-we have seen it all before.

American Burn Association (ABA) members and guests, I am honored to have been your president for the past year. However, I stand before you by the goodwill of many who have worked with me over the years. I start with the ABA central office. Under the leadership of John Krichbaum, JD, the central office staff exhibits the same dedication to issues related to burn care, education, and research that our burn teams and we do. We owe them significant gratitude for all that they do for us for our burn centers and for our patients. I want to highlight Dan Crane, JD, PhD, and Lucie Gikovich, our lobbyists in DC. Together, they have opened doors and advanced our advocacy efforts in ways that we never could have done alone. I show a picture of this year’s ABA board of trustees, (Figure 1), but of course it changes slightly every year, and each year has brought new opportunities for collaboration and friendship. Being part of the ABA has introduced me to remarkable people that I never would have known had I not joined committees. I never would have met B.J. Bartleson, Kathe Conlan, Cindy Reichart, Joan Weber, and many others from whom I have learned so much. Running a burn center requires partnership with Administration, and I have been fortunate to have outstanding department and hospital leaders, including Dr. Ronald V. Maier, Dr. Carlos A. Pellegrini, and Johnese Spisso, RN BSN, MHA, who have allowed me to personally grow and build the burn center for the past 10 years. As ideal administrators, they supported me when I needed help, but left me alone otherwise. I could never do what I do every day without the help of my remarkable burn team. These people make things happen at the bedside daily. Every time we set a challenge for improving patient care or meeting hospital benchmarks, I can count on the burn team under our tireless management to meet that goal. Thank you for all the years of striving for excellence in all we do. I am very proud to be part of your team. I also need to acknowledge my research lab. They don’t allow me at the bench anymore, but I always trust them to work with precision. I could never have maintained my laboratory without the efforts of many students, fellows, research coordinators, and collaborators. Never give up an opportunity to toast a colleague. It is important to have colleagues whom you respect and trust—it is best to be able to call them friends. Drs Matthew Klein and Tam Pham have grown from fellows to mentees to colleagues. One colleague who has been at my side for 22 years, Shari Honari, RN BSN, has humbly overseen our clinical research program and kept us out of regulatory trouble by assuring that every t is crossed and every i is dotted. She has also cared for me, fed, and quietly advised me on how I could do things better—whether by controlling my temper or being more fastidious in the operating room. Everyone needs good mentors. I highlight Dr. Erwin F. Hirsch, an early member of the ABA with an interest in radiation burns, who was my fiercest advocate throughout my training and probably was the surgeon who taught me to suffer no fools. As intimidating as he could be, his insistence on excellence and quality of care for the trauma patient was inspiring. From early in my academic career, I have marveled at Ron Tompkins’ clearheaded ability to separate the wheat from the chaff and home into relevant scientific and bureaucratic issues. I still remember our first interaction at a particularly rancorous National Institutes of Health (NIH) Program Project site visit when he adeptly navigated us away from the politics and kept the reviewers focused on the science. I am grateful for David Herndon’s counsel early in my days as an NIH reviewer when I was witness to his staunch advocacy for young investigators—especially young surgeons. When Dr. Richard Gamelli speaks, From the Department of Surgery and Regional Burn Center, University of Washington Medicine, Harborview Medical Center, Seattle, Washington. Presented at the 44th Annual Meeting of the American Burn Association Seattle, WA, April 24, 2012. Address correspondence to Nicole S. Gibran, MD,FACS, Harborview Medical Center, Box 359796, 325 Ninth Avenue, Seattle, Washington 98104. Copyright © 2013 by the American Burn Association. 1559-047X/2013