David Bor

In what ways do you feel you contribute to the Harvard community?
I've dedicated my career to promoting respectful relationships among Cambridge Health Alliance's clinicians, staff and students and with the people we serve. My colleagues and I find special meaning in our roles as advocates for a remarkably diverse but disadvantaged population and as innovators in medical education, models of caring and health policy. We seek to lead a renaissance in health care.

What is the significance of the object you brought with you to the photo shoot? 
l've found recent inspiration through my studies with John Tyson, a virtuoso renaissance recorder player and, perhaps, the most adept teacher I've yet encountered. The music of the Renaissance era, like its architecture, art and writings, harkened back to antiquity for its themes but laid new ground in the ways the phrases were embellished and woven together harmonically.

My musical experiences and John's pedagogy resonate with my life as physician, teacher and leader. The polyphonic music of the renaissance commands novel teamwork, as no single voice dominates others. Since these primitive instruments are notoriously difficult to play in tune and the music is written without bar lines, the consort relies upon empathic listening and intense self-awareness to craft the beauty that moves one's soul. Tyson's mantra,"every note should improve from the instant it sounds", mandates attention to every detail, continual self-reflection and pursuit of perfection. This artistry inspires my current work just as it motivated our forbearers to realign their social, political and religious relationships a half millennium ago.