> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.vjarmy.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# 20 Years of Changing Medicine
- URL: https://www.vjarmy.com/20-years-of-changing-medicine/
- Published: 2024-06-21T04:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-02-15T15:53:59.000Z
- Description: I have seen my fingerprints and contributions on things, and I accept that someday they will fade. But for now, I know that I have more to do.
- Author: Dan Dickinson
- Tags: Work, Personal Matters

Twenty years ago this morning, I walked through the door of 1300 York Avenue ready to start a new role as a system administrator. I was looking forward to wrangling a few Mac OS X servers and seeing what life in the world of technology in academic medicine was like.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/53/7a/537a8df0-a25f-4592-ba2a-1d40c8d47705/content/images/2026/02/713B178E-4B52-461F-A645-DB3BBAD97DB3_1_105_c.jpeg)

I’ve gone from racking and stacking, to conference room AV design, to software development, to web transformation, to IT experience, to institutional communications. I’ve grown from systems administrator through a complicated set of titles (and one very significant career pivot) to executive director.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/53/7a/537a8df0-a25f-4592-ba2a-1d40c8d47705/content/images/2026/02/83A128DD-8B23-466D-885B-C62D6A5B637A_1_105_c.jpeg)

I’ve worked through plane crashes, transit strikes, fires, hurricanes, crane collapses, office floods, power grid failures, earthquakes, and a once-a-century pandemic.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/53/7a/537a8df0-a25f-4592-ba2a-1d40c8d47705/content/images/2026/02/79B677F1-7D1C-4C59-A285-A43595920649_1_105_c.jpeg)

I’ve been welcomed with open arms, greeted with air kisses, and had my shoulder cried on. I’ve spent hours on the stage of Carnegie Hall. I’ve met Tony Fauci.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/53/7a/537a8df0-a25f-4592-ba2a-1d40c8d47705/content/images/2026/02/161EC277-EEFD-4100-9B66-8537BE276C11_1_105_c.jpeg)

I have tried to shield equipment from a leaking ceiling, getting soaked in the process, only to be later told that the gross anatomy lab was likely the source of the fluids. I’ve unloaded a large truck full of computers in the middle of a busy NYC intersection. I’ve squashed a sizable cockroach, and disposed of it quietly, before the executive I was waiting on arrived. “Other duties as assigned”, as they say.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/53/7a/537a8df0-a25f-4592-ba2a-1d40c8d47705/content/images/2026/02/35D88FB1-12D4-4068-B882-35CEE948BCA8_1_105_c.jpeg)

I’ve learned that I don’t mind public speaking, perhaps because everyone else dreads it so much. I have built some slide decks threaded with inside jokes just to pop myself.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/53/7a/537a8df0-a25f-4592-ba2a-1d40c8d47705/content/images/2026/02/37789A64-9811-4F49-93F4-7193F98A9183_1_105_c.jpeg)

I’ve had multiple team members pass away. No management training course prepares you to deal with death. I’ve written / edited enough institutional obituaries to lose count.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/53/7a/537a8df0-a25f-4592-ba2a-1d40c8d47705/content/images/2026/02/93814F0A-9737-4F87-BA5D-F3CB9505EFAC_1_105_c.jpeg)

Per others, I have “solved the web”. I was once told in an annual performance review that I was “never wrong”, which went straight to my head.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/53/7a/537a8df0-a25f-4592-ba2a-1d40c8d47705/content/images/2026/02/6F2CF719-1E64-4F5A-B764-418B4E3A8584_1_105_c.jpeg)

On occasion, I’ve been mistreated, had doors metaphorically slammed in my face, and even had my (professional?) heart broken. But patience and fortitude conquer all things.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/53/7a/537a8df0-a25f-4592-ba2a-1d40c8d47705/content/images/2026/02/99BFDF06-EA8D-4703-818B-44825ED47AE2_1_105_c.jpeg)

Some months before I started, I was entrenched in an interview with someone senior. He posed the question: **where do you want to be in five years?** As is my way, I was honest and open: I didn’t know. I just wanted to see where the job would take me. The interviewer scoffed: *“You know that’s not a very good answer...”*

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/53/7a/537a8df0-a25f-4592-ba2a-1d40c8d47705/content/images/2026/02/F2C00C48-5F11-433B-B7B4-F6623A94DD46_1_105_c.jpeg)

I stand by it. For two full decades, I’ve absolutely let WCM take me where it needed me. I have seen my fingerprints and contributions on things, and I accept that someday they will fade. But for now, I know that I have more to do.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/53/7a/537a8df0-a25f-4592-ba2a-1d40c8d47705/content/images/2026/02/6621B7BD-935E-48ED-A41C-4164DD685D52_1_105_c.jpeg)