Chapter 02: A Commitment to Medicine and the Path to Pathology
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Description
Dr. Lichtiger explains that he made the decision to study medicine as he saw his father’s heavy smoking and health problems lead to an early death. He sketches his educational path in Argentina. During his third year of medical school at the University of Buenos Aires, he decided to specialize in pathology ( M.D. conferred in 1964), and came to the U.S. for a fellowship at Michael Reese Hospital in Chicago, Illinois.
Identifier
LichtigerB_01_20120611_C02
Publication Date
6-11-2012
City
Houston, Texas
Interview Session
Benjamin Lichtiger, MD , Oral History Interview, June 11, 2012
Topics Covered
The Interview Subject's Story - Personal BackgroundPersonal Background Professional Path Inspirations to Practice Science/Medicine Influences from People and Life Experiences
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
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD :
I wanted to ask you some general background questions, so maybe you could start with where you were born and when and where you grew up, and I know that involves time in Argentina. And tell me about your educational background there that took you to the sciences.
Benjamin Lichtiger, MD :
Yes, I was born in Argentina, one of the northeastern provinces, and that’s where I completed my elementary school education.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD :
Do you mind telling me when you were born?
Benjamin Lichtiger, MD :
Yeah, 1940, and we, my family, came from Russia. From my father’s side they were Russian-German origin, Jewish, and so at the age of about twelve or thirteen we moved to Buenos Aires, and there I completed my secondary education.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD :
Were you always interested in the sciences?
Benjamin Lichtiger, MD :
Well, I became interested in the sciences because I saw my father suffer. My father was a heavy smoker and had coronary problems, heart problems, and at that time I was thirteen or fourteen. I promised myself that I was going to—(beeping)
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD :
Should I pause this just for a moment? (audio pauses ) I’ll resume recording. You were saying you promised yourself—
Benjamin Lichtiger, MD :
Yeah, I promised I was going to do something about it, and at the age of thirteen or fourteen, because my father died, that’s when I decided I was going to go into medicine, and I did all the necessary criteria, and I went to medical school when I was about eighteen, nineteen almost. And I finished at age twenty-four and did one year of internship/residency, and then I came to the States when I was twenty-five.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD :
What made you decide to specialize in pathology, and when did you decide that?
Benjamin Lichtiger, MD :
I decided that when I was in medical school. I think it was in third-year medical school when I really started to—because in the rotation and seeing the patient we, according to the European style of training over there, French-German, it was expected that when we took care of patients if they die we have to go and see the autopsies and see why did they die and the pathology and correlate, and that’s where I really realized that was something I wanted to delve into.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD :
I’ve interviewed Frederick Becker [Oral History Interview] and also Janet Bruner [Oral History Interview], both of them pathologists, of course, and both of them have mentioned the importance of a pathologist’s eye, and I was wondering what your experience of that special talent is?
Benjamin Lichtiger, MD :
Well, it’s the training.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD :
It’s the training.
Benjamin Lichtiger, MD :
It’s the training, and one is educated into observing, seeing, and paying attention to details that are not very obvious, and that habit has carried over into my regular life. I can see things that other people may not notice, details, things like that that they have, and after years of training one really picks that up.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD :
Were you at that time—third-year medical school—focusing on blood or were you—?
Benjamin Lichtiger, MD :
No, it was purely anatomical pathology because in Argentina clinical pathology is totally different, so the laboratory is something one doesn’t pay much attention to. But once I came to the States—I actually came to the States for one year to specialize and get additional training and go back.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD :
Why did you decide to come to the States, and was that the Michael Reese Hospital of Pathology?
Benjamin Lichtiger, MD :
Yes, Michael Reese, yes.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD :
Is from 1966 to 1968?
Recommended Citation
Lichtiger, Benjamin MD, PhD and Rosolowski, Tacey A. PhD, "Chapter 02: A Commitment to Medicine and the Path to Pathology" (2012). Interview Chapters. 1457.
https://openworks.mdanderson.org/mchv_interviewchapters/1457
Conditions Governing Access
Open
