Chapter 14: Thanks to Mentors, Family, Colleagues
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Description
In this chapter, Dr. Tinkey thanks people who have had an impact on her career, including her parents, her husband and children, several mentors, colleagues, and members of faculty, and staff in her department. She tells a story to demonstrate the dedication and passion of her faculty and staff.
Identifier
TinkeyPT_03_20160624_C14
Publication Date
6-24-2016
Publisher
The Making Cancer History® Voices Oral History Collection, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
City
Houston, Texas
Interview Session
Topics Covered
The Interview Subject's Story - View on Career and Accomplishments; Giving Recognition; This is MD Anderson; Funny Stories; The Life and Dedication of Clinicians and Researchers; Professional Path; Inspirations to Practice Science/Medicine; Influences from People and Life Experiences; MD Anderson Culture; Working Environment
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
Disciplines
History of Science, Technology, and Medicine | Oncology | Oral History
Transcript
T. A. Rosolowski, PhD:
OK, we’re recording, and just for the record, today is June 24th, 2016. I’m Tacey Ann Rosolowski. And I am in the Department of Veterinary Medicine and Surgery for my third session with Dr. Peggy Tinkey. So thanks again for making time this morning.
Peggy Tinkey, DVM:
Thanks for coming back.
T. A. Rosolowski, PhD:
Sure, and you were saying you had thought a bit.
Peggy Tinkey, DVM:
Yeah. So one of the things that you asked me to think about as part of this interview was whether I wanted to acknowledge or mention anyone specific that had really been influential for me. So I thought about that. And golly, the concern always is you’re going to leave someone out. And I’m just going to have to accept that. I know that I am leaving out lots of people. But when I look at my professional career now, I’ve been a veterinarian practicing either companion animal or laboratory animal medicine for 33 years. That’s a long time. And I would say that I feel like I’ve had a successful career. And so when I think about my success, certainly I have to start with my parents. I mentioned my dad was career air force, and so while certainly we had a comfortable lifestyle, we were very very very far from being rich. They had to budget very very carefully. And so one of the priorities in their budget was sending my two brothers and myself to very very good schools. I mentioned we went to private schools for our entire elementary and high school career. All three of us did. And then when I did go to college they paid for my college tuition and helped me out along the way. And so without that commitment to education -- and I didn’t appreciate it as a child. But now I appreciate their very high expectations. They expected high academic performance. That’s what they expected. And that’s what was required. And while I might not have appreciated that as a kid I certainly appreciate that now. And then of course my family. My husband Dave, my two children. I love my kids to death, and we’ve launched them, and they’re doing their own thing. So my partner Dave is just incredible. And I look for many many more years to come when we actually go into a new season in our life at some point and explore retirement and what we do there. But he’s been everything I could ask for and has certainly supported me every step of the way. Once I got here to MD Anderson I just want to have a special acknowledgment to Dr. Ken Gray and Dr. Cliff Stephens. They were both full professors when I arrived at the department. And I arrived out of practice, so really didn’t know anything about laboratory animal medicine. But I also didn’t know anything about academic medicine and being in an academic environment and what do I need to do now to achieve success and progress academically. That was a total unknown to me. And both men helped me immensely throughout my whole career. I also wanted to mention Dr. Chuck Montgomery. He was a faculty member over at Baylor College of Medicine. He’s a veterinary pathologist. He knew my father in the air force, and so maybe that’s why Dr. Montgomery took a special place. But I always felt strongly that he looked out for me. He had an eye out for me even though we were in different institutions. And frankly he was really pivotal in providing a lot of the mentoring and education for me to pass my board certification exam. I wanted to mention two gentlemen that I worked with for years in the department, Tom Lembo and Doug Cromeens. These were both colleagues who passed away earlier than they should have. And so I will never get the chance for them to hear me say thank you for being great colleagues and great coworkers and great veterinarians. They were pleasures to work with. And I’m sorry that they left life so early. They contributed a lot while they were here, and they had a lot left to contribute. So I still grieve for both of them. And then the last thing I wanted to say was just to my current faculty. I’m the department chair and we’ve done really well on some of the external reviews we’ve had. And so a lot of the accolades for those things have come to me because I’m the representative of the department. And this is my chance to say once and for all I acknowledge that while I’m the one who’s representing the department, I know it’s not me. The veterinarians here are passionate and dedicated and resilient, and they bring everything they’ve got to the table every single day to advance the research and advocate for the animals. And if I’ve done anything good in my career, it’s simply as a reflection of what they’re doing every day. And then I just wanted to say a couple of words. I have great staff. The same level of passion and dedication that the veterinarians have the staff has. But because I have to call a few people out I just wanted to say a special thank-you to Stacy LeBlanc who’s the research department administrator and my right-hand man. As a woman, she’s my right-hand man. Karen Maggi, my executive assistant, who handles so much, just helps me stay coordinated. If I look efficient it’s because she is efficient. Tom Rodriguez, who’s the associate director of the animal facility. There’s never been anything that the department needed that Tom didn’t step forward to do. Can’t imagine having had to do this job without him. And then Andy Pesek, who is such a great guy. He’s our logistics expert, my construction expert. The great animal facilities we have, again I think people say, “Oh, Dr. Tinkey built great animal facilities.” But Andy built great animal facilities and I looked over his shoulder and said, “Oh, that looks good.” And I’ll tell a quick story on Andy. You might need to edit this out I suppose. But Andy is a graduate of Texas A&M. I think his extended family lives in Hallettsville. I say he’s our department cowboy. And so one day I was sitting at a meeting somewhere and my BlackBerry or iPhone went off. And it was Andy, and Andy works 24/7, he never misses work. So it was an e-mail from Andy saying that he was going to have to miss work on Monday because he’d been helping his dad do something at the farm and he had a little accident and the doctor said he needed to stay off his feet for a day or two. And he accompanied the e-mail with a photograph of the chainsaw laceration to the front of his thigh that had occurred when he was helping his dad clear these trees or something. And I’m sure he just attached it because I’m a veterinarian. I’m always like, “Oh, you got a picture of that?” But the person sitting next to me in this meeting was just I think inappropriately looking at the screen. I was reading this e-mail. I got down to this image. And the guy -- he does know me well. The guy said, “Oh my gosh, Tinkey is such a hard manager, she makes her employees photograph their injuries before she’ll let them take the day off.” And I said, “OK, that’s totally not true.” But anyway yeah. That was Andy. He chainsaws his leg and does all sorts of stuff.
T. A. Rosolowski, PhD:
And it’s a little accident.
Peggy Tinkey, DVM:
Yeah. Right. He did it on Sunday, and it’s this huge laceration. Maybe they had to put in like 20 sutures or something. And he’s like, “Yeah, I’d be there but the doctor says I need to be --”
T. A. Rosolowski, PhD:
It’s a good story. And it does show dedication.
Peggy Tinkey, DVM:
Like you know what, just stay home.
T. A. Rosolowski, PhD:
Well, thanks for giving your appreciation to staff and faculty and the people along the way. And I wanted to ask you following up on that. Because you’ve got this great team of people you work with.
Recommended Citation
Tinkey, Peggy T. DVM and Rosolowski, Tacey A. PhD, "Chapter 14: Thanks to Mentors, Family, Colleagues" (2016). Interview Chapters. 1234.
https://openworks.mdanderson.org/mchv_interviewchapters/1234
Conditions Governing Access
Open
