Marital status:
Married
Children:
2
Occupation:
retired physician
Comment:
OK, so initially I wasn’t interested in attending our 50th class reunion, and I avoided responding to attempted contacts from Hugh Hegyi, Peter Chaves and Debby Denno. Eventually Hugh flushed me out; I responded: “Alive and well in Berkeley. Suspect that we are on opposite sides of the political spectrum, but let’s put that aside for now.” Couldn’t have been more wrong, and after contacting Hugh, who was not part of my circle of soccer aficionado friends at YHS, I now consider him a new found friend. If COVID-19 ever lets up, we and respective spouses will visit each other sometime in the future.
With that introduction, I signed onto the YHS 1970 website, and read the posted profiles. I was impressed with the honesty of the postings (sometimes brutal...) as well as the wide range of experiences related by some (i.e., Ed Dey; amazing!). Commented to Ed that my career in academic medicine was downright boring compared to his experience(s), but Ed encouraged me to post anyway. No pressure… you guys voted me “Most Likely to Succeed”, and I am aware of the sterling accomplishments of various classmates.
I majored in Biological Sciences at MIT and accumulated enough credits to graduate a semester early. Loved Boston, a paradise for students. In January 1974, I was at Chelsea College, U. of London, for a six-month non-degree program “studying” muscle mitochondria. In reality, I learned that British undergraduates (unlike MIT) spent most weekday evenings at their college-sponsored pub; I accommodated and gradually found that I could down 4-5 pints of Tartan Bitter each night and not get so plastered that I would fail to look left for oncoming traffic (so as to not get run over crossing the street). Had much trouble understanding my Scottish mentor’s English. When my program ended, I took a ferry to Copenhagen, bought a Peugeot ten-speed bicycle (costing over $300 1974 US dollars; would have cost half that in France) and over 8 weeks cycled to the coast of Belgium, ferry to Dover, and back to London.
Thirty-six hours later I arrived in Durham, NC, to start medical school at Duke. Although the Duke campus was built to resemble Cambridge U., Durham definitely was not King’s Road, Chelsea… In my third year at Duke, I arranged for a Spring clinical rotation to return to familiar grounds (Boston Children’s), where I became fascinated with the complex management of individuals with Cystic Fibrosis (CF). (I went into Pediatrics because at Duke old-school faculty in Internal Medicine and in Surgery delighted in making medical students feel lower than dirt, whereas the Pediatric faculty were humane). After completing internship/residency at Philadelphia Children’s, my exposure to CF guided me into a Fellowship in Pediatric Pulmonology, again at Boston Children’s.
I met my wife to be, Celeste, in my last year at Philadelphia Children’s, where she was completing her residency training in Clinical Pharmacy (Pharm.D.). As fate would have it, before we met, we both had made commitments to go to Boston. Back then, before computers, one had to manually look up laboratory results on file cards in a central location. In search of a peak gentamycin level, I was “hit by the thunderbolt” Godfather style. On our first date, we went for a bicycle ride in Fairmont Park; wow, Celeste had the identical men’s white Peugeot bike… cue the Twilight Zone theme. We have been married 38 years and have two daughters, both married, and at present have 2 grandsons. Having a pediatric Pharm.D. available 24/7 was a great help to my career, but also led to some awkward situations; residents might call at odd hours with questions about patient care, and l’d say, “Celeste suggests XYZ…” to stunned silence on the phone, until I added, “We are married.” (Celeste kept her professional degree name).
I was an “academic whore”, taking training / faculty positions in San Francisco, East Lansing, Boston, Cleveland, Charleston, SC, Atlanta and eventually back in the SF Bay Area. My academic career peaked in Cleveland at Case Western, where I was a member of a large, research-oriented Pediatric Pulmonary Division. I obtained a NIH New Investigator grant followed by an Established Investigator grant (R01) (both for lab bench research) and was promoted to Associate Professor. High times… dinners with Dr. Francis Collins and the like. Twelve years in, when my R01 renewal received a favorable review, but was not funded, it was “Nice knowing you kid”, as I was escorted to the door. A Case colleague, who suffered the same fate, commented, “At least we got to play big league ball”.
In any given profession, one might aspire to make a significant contribution to that field. I was fortunate to do so. In collaboration with my wife and colleagues at Case, we conducted the first study in pediatrics demonstrating that IV aminophylline was of no benefit in the treatment of acute asthma when used in combination with newer, more specific inhaled bronchodilators and steroids. Aminophylline had been the mainstay treatment of acute asthma for 40 years, but has various severe adverse and potentially fatal side effects. Within four to five years, after other investigators replicated our findings, the use of aminophylline was abandoned worldwide.
After Case, I subsequently found that my ‘Get it done, Get it done now’ approach to academic medicine, which had served me well in San Francisco, Philadelphia, Boston and Cleveland, was not appreciated in genteel Charleston, SC. After one year, I moved on to the “New South” at Emory in Atlanta.
Celeste is from the SF Bay Area and wanted to return there. Why not? The weather is great, no storm windows necessary. Ten years ago, despite having to qualify for financing during the Great Recession, we purchased a 1912 Craftsman style home in Berkeley, where aging hippies go to molder. The house has proven to be a fantastic investment. I retired at age 60, and my focus now is bringing the house back to and beyond its original 1912 glory. I whole heartedly agree with the sentiment expressed in a restoration book, “There is a special place in hell for those who paint over period hardware.”
My beard, which I have had life-long since age 20, is the result of a bet I made with Bill Anderson. (Bill and I were ‘Best Man’ at each other’s wedding). I started going grey (white actually) in my mid- thirties, a great benefit in trying to convince parents that I knew what I was doing in taking care of their children.
Finally, in regard to my valedictorian address, I certainly don’t recall being very politically active at that time. Rereading it, sadly some sections are applicable to current ongoing events. When I gave that address, my mind was on ‘Don’t mess up’ and, more pointedly, that Steve Morgan and I were leaving the next morning for Mexico City to see the semi-finals and final matches of the World Cup (of soccer). Pele’ scores; Brazil beats Italy 4-1 to our delight and that of 120 thousand screaming fans in the Estadio Azteca!!!!
My apologies that this was so long. Looking forward to our reunion.
