by Thomas Vitale '86
In 2007, my 2-year-old daughter suffered a stroke due to Moyamoya disease, a rare condition that mostly affects children. After a little Googling, I learned that the world’s foremost expert—and one of the few experts—on Moyamoya is a doctor named R. Michael Scott, who is a Williams graduate, class of 1962! Not only was Dr. Scott an expert in Moyamoya, but he was the person who, 25 years earlier, had developed the surgery to deal with this disease.
We contacted Dr. Scott, who was working as a surgeon at Boston Children's Hospital. His schedule was super tight, and he had a long international trip coming up in just a few weeks, but thanks at least partially to the Williams connection, he directed his office to find a way to get my daughter on his schedule. Dr. Scott performed the surgery, and now, 14 years later, my daughter is doing wonderfully, all thanks to Dr. Scott.