Community Commitment and a Passion for Pulmonology
There was nowhere Stephen Codella rather would have been than the Lung Center—and no limit to how hard he worked to get there. After completing residency at Temple’s Lewis Katz School of Medicine, he was initially unable to secure the Pulmonary fellowship he wanted.
But when the Lung Center’s Director, Gerard J. Criner, MD, FACP, FACCP, offered him a position as a Night Hospitalist, Stephen was determined to prove he deserved to be there. His efforts during the pandemic impressed the Lung Center team so much that Stephen was eventually awarded a Pulmonary fellowship.
“He was just beside himself, because that was all he wanted to do,” says his mother, Catherine Codella.
Stephen was also known for his ability to bring people together—and that’s exactly what he did for his colleagues and patients at the Lung Center. “At the height of the pandemic, he brought his Nintendo to the Lung Center’s on-call room so everybody could play it, just to keep them from getting too stressed out,” Catherine remembers. “His friends told us that, after his shift ended, he would stick around just to talk to the other residents, and to build a sense of camaraderie.”
In the Face of a Tragic Diagnosis, it Takes a Temple Village
But then, in a matter of months, everything changed. Stephen was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer, and began receiving treatment at Fox Chase. “He trusted the care there, and he wanted to be surrounded by his family and his friends at Temple,” Catherine recalls.
Indeed, as soon as he received his diagnosis, Stephen’s community at Temple rallied around him. “The Intensivists at Jeanes Campus would come to visit him when they finished their shifts,” Catherine says. “His friends from Oncology, Pulmonology, and other fields at Fox Chase would also stop in.”
“When he was transferred from Fox Chase to Main Campus when he was at his sickest, Dr. Criner called him and came to see him, and one of the nurses who had treated him at Fox Chase brought him home-cooked food,” Catherine continues.
Initially, Stephen’s prognosis seemed promising, and he even got to ring the bell celebrating the end of his radiation treatment. Soon, however, things took a turn for the worse, and Stephen passed away on January 27, 2022.
It’s almost impossible to describe the hole that Stephen’s death left in the lives of those who knew him. “We miss him so much,” Catherine says. “And we really miss his music. He was always playing the piano and practicing with his band. It’s like the day the music died.”
Honoring Stephen’s Enduring Legacy
In every situation, Stephen was always the first person trying to figure out how he could help. Catherine and her husband, Mark, wanted to follow his example—and they soon began planning how to best honor Stephen’s legacy. They found the answer in what had meant so much to Stephen, and what he had worked so hard for: the Temple Lung Center.
The Codella family established an endowed fellowship in Stephen’s name, with funds to renovate the Pulmonary Fellows Lounge—where Stephen had spent so much time bonding with his co-Fellows—and to help send one Fellow per year to the American Thoracic Society to present their research. Those who are interested can contribute to the fund through the Lung Center Giving page.
“Stephen probably would have been a little annoyed with us for doing this, because he never liked to draw attention to himself,” Mark says. “But at the same time, I think he would have really appreciated the fact that this is supporting research and the other Fellows. It’s a way of giving back to the Pulmonary community, and that’s something that meant so much to him.”
That community—including Maria Elena Vega-Sanchez, MD, who helped oversee the Pulmonary Fellows Lounge renovation project—came out to the unveiling of the lounge to honor Stephen’s memory. They shared their favorite memories with Stephen, and recalled the example he set as a physician and Fellow.
“Kartik V. Shanoy, MD told us how, when everyone was running away from COVID, Stephen was running towards it,” Catherine remembers. “Dr. Oisin O’Corraigain, one of his best friends, told us that, if there was a code, he was the first one to get to it, even if it wasn’t one of his patients, and that everyone felt so confident and reassured when Stephen was around.”
That sense of selflessness is what, more than anything, defined Stephen. It’s why he was able to build a community around him, and what continues to inspire all who knew him.
“One of his friends he met through another resident wrote me a letter after Stephen’s passing,” Catherine remembers. “I’ll never forget what it said. He told us, ‘Stephen taught us how to live.’”