[Taken from a message to the PHTLS Faculty.]
 
As many of you know, Dr. Norman McSwain would greet PHTLS faculty with the same question every time we met or talked on the phone, "What have you done for the good of mankind today?"
 
Even now, we can hear him say those words, and it is with those words in mind that we share with you his wishes for sustaining and growing his beloved PHTLS program. Dr. McSwain knew his time with us was finite and he wanted to make sure there was a succession plan in place for his position as Medical Director of PHTLS. He recommended Dr. Lance Stuke of the Louisiana State University Medical Center and the Spirit of Charity Trauma Center to succeed him, and spent the last year mentoring him to take on this role.

Lance met Dr. McSwain for the first time in 1992 when he was a paramedic bringing patients to the trauma team at Charity Trauma Center in New Orleans. Dr. McSwain actually began training Lance then so it was no surprise that, when Lance became a surgeon, he would find his way back to Charity, ultimately being asked to serve on the PHTLS committee.
 
Dr. Stuke was formally appointed to the position of PHTLS Medical Director late last week.  Please join us in welcoming Dr. Stuke to his new role.  We are confident that with Dr. Stuke serving as our Medical Director, we will be able to preserve and strengthen the PHTLS legacy that Dr. McSwain established and nurtured for the last thirty years.
 
Dr. McSwain is counting on all of us to report on what we've done for the good of mankind.  Let us use his words, his passion and his leadership as a beacon for us to follow into the future.