When the chairman of Oracle Health admits to experiencing the fish-out-of-water phenomenon known as “Imposter Syndrome,” people listen.

Addressing the Class of 2023 at RFU’s 109th Commencement on June 2, David Feinberg, MD ’89, MBA — who had just been introduced as having also served in executive positions at Cerner, Geisinger, UCLA Health and Google Health — asked the 600-plus graduate candidates in attendance to hark back to their first week in school.

“It’s actually pretty easy for me,” he said. “Thirty-eight years ago, that first week, I felt like an imposter. You see, they had this biochem test. It was a pretest — didn’t count for any grades — but it was to see if you knew the difference between the essential and non-essential amino acids.”

Dr. Feinberg admitted that “I totally flunked it” — and then had to endure a classmate saying “Anyone who doesn’t know those amino acids doesn’t belong here.”

“You guys, that was me,” he told the crowd at Credit Union 1 Arena in Chicago. “Now, you heard from my introduction, I made it through.”

There are many famous tales of future triumphs that were in no way hinted at by the first steps taken. Abraham Lincoln finished eighth in his initial run for elected office, and he proceeded to launch failed campaigns for everything from Illinois land office commissioner to U.S. senator (twice). Test pilot Chuck Yeager, the World War II combat ace who would go on to break the sound barrier, vomited the first time he rode in an airplane.

Fortunately, for the vast majority of the population, those failures and hard lessons usually occur out of the spotlight. For researchers at labs around the globe and on the RFU campus, this necessary process of trial-and-error no doubt occurs every day.

But as indicated by Dr. Feinberg, results come from those who recognize that process and work through it. The stories shared in our annual research edition of Helix — including Dr. Feinberg’s 10 essential life lessons — represent the fruitful end stages or acquisition of funds needed to pursue a goal, but we can rest assured that each success came with uncertainty.

“I still likely don’t know the difference between lysine and valine and visine. I think Visine is actually eye drops,” Dr. Feinberg said to laughter on Commencement day. What he did know after that first week of school was that, like all of us, he belonged in a world that reveals its knowledge as long as we seek it.

Dan Moran is the communications director with RFU’s Division of Marketing and Brand Management.