In a pivotal scene in the Dead Poets Society (and a scene that deeply resonated with me), Mr. Keating, a charismatic but unconventional English teacher, jumped onto his desk and asked, “Why do I stand up here?”  After dismissing a frivolous reply, he declared, “I stand upon my desk to remind myself that we must constantly look at things in a different way.” He then looked around the room and explained that the room looked different from this new vantage. By standing on the desk, Mr. Keating demonstrated that even small actions can profoundly change how we perceive the world.  He then asked his students to see for themselves.

Through the Brown Global Neurosurgery Health Forum hosted by our department this week, we, too, were offered an opportunity to look at things in a different way -- through the vantage points of our visitors and their pursuits. While admittedly a small stone cast into the whirlpool of recent global events, the event brought together prominent surgeons with academic lineage that spanned the Pacific. Standing on our metaphoric desks, we exchanged perspectives that were simultaneously foreign and familiar. We reimagined oncologic, pediatric, functional, vascular, and spine neurosurgery through diverse voices unified by a common purpose.

In the process, we shared a little of ourselves and treasured the offerings of our guests -- each conversation and shared moment transforming strangers into kindred spirits. Distance dissolved into connections as we laid the foundation for lifelong friendship. We wove our strengths into solutions for collective challenges and developed collaborative frameworks to achieve shared priorities. In doing so, we move one step closer to expanding what is possible beyond the realms once thought unreachable.