By Ida Wagner, MD

My mentor, Susan Mackinnon, presented on the topic of mentoring at the ASSH annual meeting this fall. One of her key points centered around serendipity, which is defined as the “phenomenon of finding valuable or agreeable things not sought for.” English author Horace Walpole invented the term after reading a Persian fairy tale, “The Three Princes of Serendip.” The princes “were always making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity, of things they were not in quest of.” Dr. Mackinnon emphasized that serendipity plays a part, along with preparation, research, mentoring, and practice, in contouring one’s overall career trajectory. This resonated with me, because it is true. As surgeon scientists, we may not be used to hearing about things intangible and uncontrollable, almost magic, in our presentations, and yet there it is. 

When I reflect over the course of my medical training and practice, there are many times I can recall episodes of serendipity—having the right conversation with the right person at the right time–that set my trajectory.  These events were like the levers on a pinball machine; they bounced me like a pinball from here to there, ultimately designating my path. There was the surgeon that told me, “If you really want to know your way around the belly, you’ve got to be a surgeon.” This confirmed my decision to switch from OB/GYN to surgery. There was the interview at Temple, for surgical residency, when I had the good fortune to meet with Amy Goldberg, who “never did interviews,” because my interviewer was called to the OR. This set my course for Temple, where I built the foundation for my life as a surgeon: never would I be afraid of anything that rolled through, or was thrown onto, the doorstep. I could handle anything.

Of all these episodes of serendipity, I find myself most struck by a very recent event. At the ASSH meeting in September, I was thrown into a giant pinball machine of serendipity. I met all the right people at all the right times. I quite literally bounced from one conversation to the next, with each providing meaning, inspiration or insight. From the moment I passed through security at Philadelphia International Airport, on my way to Las Vegas, when I saw my hand surgeon friend and colleague waving at me, until the moment I boarded the plane back to Philadelphia, leaving Las Vegas, I was never without a serendipitous conversation.

I reunited with old friends who shared their experiences. I saw my mentors who gave me insight. I met an entrepreneur in line for coffee (a very long line, with a very high expenditure) who helps surgeons with their inventions. I met with my own plastic surgery chief resident, who matched into hand surgery, and, I hope, I was able to impart something useful. I connected with other women in hand surgery, especially those of us trained in plastic surgery. I also connected with fellow hand surgeons interested in education. I bumped into a colleague who it just-so-happens is interested in building a peripheral nerve center, just as I am. 

I kept thinking, what are the odds (we were in Vegas)  of all these “chance” meetings happening—with the number of attendees at this meeting, spread out over the vast acreage of Caesar’s Palace, that I would have so many “chance” encounters with all of the right people who could help set my trajectory going forward? I do not know, but…leave it up to serendipity….