Richard S. Weeder, M.D. is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania Medical School and holds a bachelor's degree in religion from Princeton. A Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, he spent two years in Japan with the U.S. Army treating casualties from the Vietnam War, and he has been a teacher of surgery as well as chief of surgery at a medical center in the northeast United States.

My Life Work
"My life has divided itself into four phases. The first was involved in helping people physically by altering them with my surgical skills. In the second phase, I tried to explain to patients how and why I did the first phase. The third phase was an epiphany where I discovered how cancer works. The fourth phase was planned to be relaxation, but my nagging social consciousness insists that I once again explain to others, this time what I learned in phase three"

Background
"I was propelled into good luck. I was the fourth surgeon in my immediate family. I learned from the other three, particularly my father, who also taught surgeons in three of Philadelphia's four medical schools. Other personal teachers were C. Everett Koop, Surgeon General of the United States, I. S. Ravdin, who operated on President Eisenhower, and Harold Foss, William Mayo's first assistant and, later, President of the American College of Surgeons. Doctor Foss invited me to his home in Florida where he introduced me to Alton Ochsner, Michael DeBakey, Denton Cooley, and Howard Patterson. A close mentor and friend was Frank Gerow, who developed the silicone breast prosthesis; I am godfather to one of his sons. With such a force of intellect and skill behind me, my future was assured"