Reminiscences

Disclosures: Eli Glatstein: Consultant/advisory role: Thomson Reuters (on lung cancer for computer advice for patients). The content of this article has been reviewed by independent peer reviewers to ensure that it is balanced, objective, and free from commercial bias. No financial relationships relevant to the content of this article have been disclosed by the independent peer reviewers. My academic career had its roots in my residency. I had begun my residency at Stanford in what was then (1967) called general radiology, alternating every 6 months between diagnostic radiology and therapy for 2 years, before committing a final 2 years to one or the other. But after only 2 days of therapy training, I was hooked and requested not to rotate, but simply concentrate on the treatment side of radiology. When asked why, I simply responded that I didn't want to spend a month of my life doing nothing but barium enemas! It's almost impossible to convey the thrill, excitement, and stimulation of oncology training at Stanford in the 1960s. Typically I would sing, whistle, or hum driving to work in anticipation of the wonders of the day. You learned a whole new way to think when you were around people such as the rest of a fabulous collection of junior faculty. You had to learn to think and reason logically if you were going to keep up with them. You needed data as evidence for your thinking but you also had to be able to interpret the data. Always, they treated residents with respect and never did they talk down to trainees or students. Kaplan, in particular, was an astounding intellect. A large, imposing, restless man with an enormous grasp of science and a deep, resonating voice that he often cleared in an almost theatrical manner, he always saw the glass as half empty. He was arguably the best pure thinker in oncology, but also a man of enormous interests in literature, art, and music. Rosenberg was no slouch as a thinker either. He was the quintessential physician by any and all parameters: compassionate , knowledgeable, and empathetic. He and Kaplan ran a joint lymphoma clinic that was generally staffed only by the senior residents from medical oncology and radio-therapy. Nonetheless, I worked voluntarily each week from my first year in the Monday afternoon clinic (which rarely finished before 6 p.m. and usually much later) because I wanted as much …