{"id":16729,"date":"2015-06-12T15:43:50","date_gmt":"2015-06-12T15:43:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/baylorproud.wpengine.com\/?p=16729"},"modified":"2015-06-23T13:56:52","modified_gmt":"2015-06-23T13:56:52","slug":"cardiologist-priest-fly-fisherman-and-pioneering-baylor-professor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/baylorproud\/2015\/06\/cardiologist-priest-fly-fisherman-and-pioneering-baylor-professor\/","title":{"rendered":"Cardiologist, priest, fly-fisherman — and pioneering Baylor professor"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Dr.<\/p>\n

Dr. Michael Attas<\/a>, BA \u201969, is a man who can\u2019t help but make a difference in the lives of those around him — be they students, patients or friends. His passions and talents are as wide-ranging as the individuals\u00a0he\u2019s served.<\/p>\n

As a cardiologist, he\u2019s provided life-saving treatment and care to thousands of Central Texans, including many Baylor professors, administrators and staff members. As a professor, he helped establish\u00a0Medical Humanities<\/a> at Baylor, a trailblazing program which is now one of the few majors of its kind in the nation. As a priest, he was ordained in the Episcopal Church and serves as a powerful voice for the role of faith and ethics in medicine. And, last but not least, as a fly fisherman, he literally wrote the book on faith and fly fishing: Fly Fishing-The Sacred Art: Casting a Fly as a Spiritual Practice<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n

Attas has long been recognized as a vital part of the Baylor and Waco communities, but\u00a0his influence stretches\u00a0far beyond Central Texas. Last month, the University of Texas-Medical Branch (UTMB) in Galveston bestowed its highest honor on Attas, naming him\u00a0an Ashbel Smith Distinguished Alumnus<\/a>.\u00a0The press release explaining the award listed his work with Baylor’s Medical Humanities program among his top achievements since leaving UTMB,\u00a0where he received his M.D. in 1973.<\/p>\n

Attas has recently retired from previous roles as chief cardiologist at Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center, director of Medical Humanities at Baylor, and his full-time classload, but\u00a0he\u00a0remains a mentor to many students and graduates students in the holistic program. Medical Humanities equips students with both a background in medicine and a foundation in the sciences and humanities, aiming to educate each future doctor\u00a0as a whole person to better serve patients and the world at large.<\/p>\n

Attas was honored at UTMB on May 30; he plans to retire to Colorado soon, where he plans\u00a0to serve as a part-time fly fishing guide on the Fryingpan River, a fitting step in a remarkable life.<\/p>\n

Sic \u2019em, Dr. Attas!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dr. Michael Attas, BA \u201969, is a man who can\u2019t help but make a difference in the lives of those around him — be they students, patients or friends. His passions and talents are as wide-ranging as the individuals\u00a0he\u2019s served. As a cardiologist, he\u2019s provided life-saving treatment and care to thousands of Central Texans, including […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16729","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-academics","category-alumni","category-service"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/baylorproud\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16729","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/baylorproud\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/baylorproud\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/baylorproud\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/baylorproud\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16729"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/baylorproud\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16729\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/baylorproud\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16729"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/baylorproud\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16729"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/baylorproud\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16729"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}