IN REMEMBRANCE commemorating the 100 th Kentucky Derby , Bob finished second in his age class , racing the traditional route from Iroquois Park to the Belvedere , near the fountains .
He served as president of many medical entities , the medical staff at Methodist Evangelical Hospital , the Louisville Society of Internists , the Kentucky Society of Internists and the Transylvania Medical Society . He was instrumental in the organization of the Kentucky Heart Association and the Kentucky chapter of the American Diabetes Association .
During his term as JCMS President with his guidance and ( as he would insist ) the help of many others , JCMS established the Louisville CME Consortium with multiple continuing education programs . He reorganized the Board of Governors into its current form . He drew the hospital medical staffs closer by having the monthly medical society meetings rotate from hospital to hospital . He helped to improve the processes of the Judicial Council to help hospitals with “ problem doctor ” evaluations and actions . He worked with Clark Wood , chair of the UofL department of physical education and Bryant Stamford , PhD , exercise physiologist to establish a citywide promotion of physical activity for adults and especially teenagers and children .
Bob was a teacher and a student . He was an Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine at UofL and our practice continually hosted third and fourth year students on clinical rotations with Dr . Tillett as their mentor . He mentored us as well , having established a practice style of caring for the patient first but also caring for our staff and each other . As a student himself , during the time of his JCMS presidency , he studied and took re-certification boards even though his certification did not expire . He took delight in learning the stories of his patients and treated all as though they were family . night check in calls .
Bob thought a lot about collegiality in medicine and did much to increase it . His period of leadership with JCMS was in the turbulent times of change in payment and coding systems in medicine . He could see that closed staffs and payment panels were driving physicians apart . He , along with Dr . Charles C . Smith , Jr ., worked hard to keep JCMS as one family and not see medicine in Louisville divided into closed groups . He continued this desire to have community into retirement by being active in the “ Methodist Mafia of the Donut Castle ” for regular Monday morning meetings of retired physicians until the last year of his life .
As it turned out , life had some rather hard times for us . During these times , Bob and Jean extended to us the grace of family and support for which we are grateful .
For all of us who had the pleasure of working with him or consulting with him , that experience strengthened our resolve to become as good a physician and a human as Bob Tillett , MD .
Authors ’ note : We thank Bert Guinn MBA , CAE , GLMS Executive Vice President / CEO and Laura Carr , GLMS Business Relationship Specialist for help with research on Dr . Tillett ’ s term as president of JCMS and the Tillett family for great Bob Tillett stories .
-David E . Bybee , MD , retired internal medicine and endocrinology & John O ’ Brien , MD , retired internal medicine and pulmonology
As we joined Bob in practice , we were treated as equals from the beginning , sharing expenses , decision making and the care of our patients . Bob and several other internists established a remarkable coverage group . On call we would get a list of everyone ’ s patients and round on them over the weekend in every hospital in town and take telephone calls . On Sunday evening , the person on call would contact all the other members of the group with a report . The group handled the finances so that no one physician made money on anyone else ’ s work . There was a lot of teaching in those Sunday
Dr . Tillett was a GLMS member for 66 years .
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