Ronald M. Davis, MD: My colleague and my friend

This message to all physicians, from AMA President Nancy H. Nielsen, MD, PhD, was written shortly after Dr. Davis, who was battling pancreatic cancer, announced his intention to continue only comfort care. Dr. Davis died Nov. 6 at his Michigan home.

Approximately five months ago, Dr. Ron Davis proudly stood before the American Medical Association House of Delegates and remarked how great an honor it is to serve as AMA president. His comment was not some mere platitude. It was not a throwaway line organizational leaders use to justify their own place in the hierarchy.

Rather, Ron was yet again humbling himself before his profession. He was showing all of us that serving a higher goal is a responsibility and a passion he cherished. Ron's passion for advancing the science and art of medicine and the betterment of public health has no equal.

Typically, an AMA president spends his or her year traveling across the country to meetings large and small, to news conferences, to Congress and more. It is common to be on the road most days and still try to maintain a practice back home. Ron's year as president was no different. At least not on the surface.

You see, he delivered his share of major speeches on topics ranging from health care disparities to protecting seniors' access to medical care. He testified before Congress, met with federal agencies and handled his duties as the director for the Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention at the Henry Ford Health System in Detroit with his usual aplomb and grace.

He was instrumental in putting the AMA Voice for the Uninsured campaign on the national landscape through his travels across Iowa right before the presidential primaries, meeting with leaders of both parties, editorial boards, and countless reporters, physicians and medical students. I don't know how he managed to avoid that state's famed fried pork tenderloin sandwich that maybe he deep down inside would have loved to eat, but he always found a way.

The public saw the AMA president carrying the AMA message loudly and proudly. That's what we do.

But what you didn't see were the hepatic metastases from his underlying pancreatic tumor.

What the nation saw was the leader of the AMA speaking forcefully for the nation's patients and physicians. In fact, Ron is largely responsible for what might be one of the pivotal acts in the AMA's history.

Earlier this year, on behalf of the AMA, Ron unequivocally apologized for the Association's past discriminatory behavior against African-American physicians, their families and their patients.

Ron and other AMA officers had personally made their feelings known years earlier, but it was Ron's determination and sense of justice that brought the AMA to offer the formal documentation of that shameful history, and to apologize. Despite cancer and chemotherapy, Ron stood before the National Medical Assn. and said:

"This is the moment we can stand as one, in tireless advocacy for access to high-quality health care for all Americans, regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation and any other characteristic.

"This is also the moment we can stand as one, in tireless advocacy for the elimination of disparities in health care.

"This is also the moment we can stand as one, in tireless advocacy for diversity in health care, especially within the physician population, that at a minimum reflects the diversity we see among those who need care.

"And this is also the moment we can stand as one, in tireless advocacy for training in cultural competency for all medical students, residents and fellows, and practicing physicians."

What Ron did on our behalf was "an apology," but it was much more. It was a call for all physicians to be better; to recognize that ending injustice in health care must be part of our daily practice. Ron's eloquence and passion was not new, but as AMA president, his words charged across the nation and will serve us well for generations to come. This call for unity will serve as a guide, not just for the AMA, but for our nation as it seeks to find solutions for the tired, the powerless and the hungry.

Transparency in one's actions, so all can see there is nothing to hide, is not just something Ron espouses professionally. He exemplifies it personally. His updates about his illness to friends, colleagues and family members, on his CarePages blog, have been viewed more than 2,000 times.

This is a fairly new way of communicating, comprehensive but non-intrusive, and the Henry Ford Hospital could not have asked for a better person to test the limits of their system.

As of Oct. 30, he had received more than 900 separate well wishes and letters of encouragement. It is a blessing for all to be able to follow his ups and downs, and to respond from the heart.

As I write this, Ron has told us that he is entering the comfort care part of his life's journey. Ron is with the people he cherishes most: his wife, Nadine, and his sons, Jared, Evan and Connor. And I clearly recall what Ron told us in June: "I will continue to be proud to work with all of you, in our continual effort to improve health care for patients across this nation. In a continual effort to make the AMA a testament to the love we physicians have for those under our care."

Ron admonished us in June that we should never take away hope. A friend who is a hospice director once told me, "It's all about redefining a good outcome."

To Ron and his cherished family, your friends across this land are sending our thoughts and prayers to you. And with you, we are hoping for a good outcome.