John Hansen-Flaschen

John Hansen-Flaschen, MD, has made a lifelong commitment to advancing care for patients with complex respiratory conditions, as demonstrated by work establishing the Jay and Randy Fishman Home Assisted Ventilation Program and the Harron Lung Center. This vast experience made him a perfect fit to highlight during May, which is recognized as National Asthma and Allergy Awareness Month. 

We spoke to Dr. Hansen-Flaschen about his dedication to lifelong learning, his work mentoring young doctors, and his strong connection to the College. 

 

You’ve been a Fellow of the College for many years. What first drew you to the College, and what keeps you connected to its mission today?  

I joined to contribute, in my own small way, to the grand history of the College by celebrating and promoting the core values of the organization, refined by generations of physicians who preceded me and newly interpreted for this era by current members. Every College Night inspires me to consider afresh what it means to be a physician. By the help that defines what is by advancing Philadelphia medicine in collaboration with College members. The opportunity to engage old and newly inducted Fellows. 

 

Looking back on your career as a clinician, researcher, and program founder, what lessons have most influenced how you mentor residents and early-career physicians?  

Lessons drawn from my mistakes, most especially those resulting from a failure to listen. Fifty years after I took the Hippocratic Oath and nearly 20 years after the Penn Medicine Mentoring award was named after me, I am still learning how to listen better to patients and colleagues. Young doctors: "Listen first; ask insightful questions and listen more; listen to silence. Then listen with your eyes as you talk." 

 

What role do multidisciplinary teams play in the care of patients with complex respiratory conditions, and why is collaboration so critical in achieving the best outcomes?  

In my early, so-called retirement ten years ago, I founded and still lead an endowed program devoted to comprehensive medical care of adults with chronic respiratory failure, including patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The endowment, gifted to Penn by my first-ever ALS outpatient and his wife, made it possible to assemble a championship multidisciplinary team capable of serving broadly the specialized needs of people who can't walk or move without assistance. I encourage my colleagues to "find a problem and solve it; find an opportunity and pursue it," with team support and finances as needed. That way, everyone is a leader. We all drive forward together to develop an altogether new subspecialty of pulmonary medicine. 

 

What do you wish more people knew about the College?    

The Hinkson Holloway Mentorship Program, which offers college scholarships to Black men in Philadelphia who intend to pursue a career in medicine, and the other community educational initiatives that are currently on hiatus. Ben Franklin will approve heartily if the College brings these highly meritorious programs back to life. 

 

Editor's Note: Since we interviewed Dr. Hansen-Flaschen earlier this year, the College has announced its revamped STEM programs, along with a public health mentoring program. .