Lifelong Teacher An exacting teacher and mentor, Crandall aimed to produce the finest surgeons possible. He took special pride in seeing his students excel and become leaders in the field. “To watch his quiet hands performing surgeries was to see a master at work. If I see a surgical video anywhere in the world, I can tell if it’s someone who trained with Alan because of a few subtle things he taught,” said Jeff Pettey, MD, MBA, Moran’s vice chair of education. John Berdahl, MD, of Vance Thompson Vision in Sioux Falls, North Dakota, and a Moran adjunct volunteer ophthalmologist, first learned of Crandall during residency at Duke University. He had heard of Crandall’s legendary skills—and that he had a reputation of sometimes intimidating his residents and fellows.
“Lower your hands. You can’t cheat physics. You can remove more than one molecule of lens at a time. A surgery should be elegant and appear effortless.” —AL AN S . CR ANDALL , MD , TR ADEMARK PHR AS ES TO RESIDENTS IN TR AINING
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“But I know he also made his Utah residents bulletproof,” he said. “Instead of feeling intimidated when I met him, I found he had a unique ability to inspire from afar and pull out the absolute best from those he was close to. His residents, including my colleague, Russell Swan, MD, a former Moran resident and current Moran adjunct volunteer, knew his admonitions came from a place of love and enabled them to hone skills they would carry with them for a lifetime.” Colleagues worldwide praised Crandall’s way of clearly explaining complex surgical topics in ways that even non-surgical ophthalmologists could understand. Whenever physicians, technicians, or staff around him had questions or needed assistance, he stepped up to help.
