Chapter 03: A Pathology Lab Fellow
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Description
In the early seventies, Dr. Lichtiger saw that MD Anderson’s reputation was growing and he decide to make the move to Houston. He speaks glowingly of Dr. James Butler, whom he worked under in pathology, and describes how he was the only fellow trusted enough to be left in the frozen section surgical. He notes how Pathology was working on accelerating the diagnosis process, first using electron microscopy. Dr. Lichtiger compares the Pathology Departments at Michael Reese Hospital and MD Anderson, and the unique environment at Houston’s institution convinced him to stay. At this time, he also realized that he missed contact with patients and switched from a purely laboratory path, to a clinical one.
Identifier
LichtigerB_01_20120611_C03
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 - Coming to MD Anderson/Coming to TexasProfessional Path The Researcher The Clinician Building/Transforming the Institution Multi-disciplinary Approaches Devices, Drugs, Procedures The MD Anderson Brand, Reputation Discovery and Success Evolution of Career Professional Practice The Professional at Work
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
Benjamin Lichtiger, MD :
Yes, and so I really realized then in ’67 to ’68 that—’67 that I wanted to specialize in pathology of tumors. So at that time I applied to other places, and I could have been accepted in different places, but I decided on MD Anderson. New institution, and started to show up in the papers and literature, so I decided to come to MD Anderson, and at that time I trained under Dr. James Butler, who passed away. He was a famous lymphoma pathologist and a very nice man. He really worked with you closely, and he directed me, and I’m very grateful of his effort.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD :
What made him such a good teacher and mentor?
Benjamin Lichtiger, MD :
Well, his personality and his approach, and he took the trainees under his wings, so to say, and really gave us projects and guided us and showed us the floors and successes, so we participated actively, and he trusted me and other people in the Department of Pathology so much so that I probably—I think I was the first fellow that they left in the frozen surgical suite to be reading the diagnoses and calling into the OR, and from there I evolved. I wanted to accelerate the diagnosis. I mean, one had to wait several days until one got the response. The tissue had to be processed and I started to push for—at that time—for the electron microscopy to do it overnight, and, well, we had some very limited success. It required a lot of technology, and so I don’t think it panned out. It didn’t work out. Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD I was going to ask you when you came how did you find MD Anderson? I mean, what were its services like in comparison to other hospitals?
Benjamin Lichtiger, MD :
Well, I came from a big hospital, Michael Reese, a gigantic hospital with many services, and I came to a small hospital, and it’s a totally different environment, easy accessibility. And now looking backwards and looking with retroscope [sic], I mean, I rubbed elbows with the figures that really built the institution. I could see the president, the president to vice president to head of surgery, head of radiology. I mean, it was a very intimate milieu, you understand? Exchange ideas and new things. It was such an exciting environment that at that time I decided I’m not going back, that I’m staying, so I changed my visa. The institution helped me. I became a permanent resident, and at that time I realized that I was missing the patient contact and anatomical pathology was not patient—was post patient. I needed interaction with the patients, so I switched to clinical pathology and completed all the requirements and took the boards and passed the boards. And at that time I was looking for a job, and also I was in graduate school because they convinced me that the first thing—the institution—I really needed to proceed with further graduate studies, so I went to graduate school here at GSBS [The University of Texas Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at Houston] and I practically—towards the end of my graduate school I started to look for a job. And the only job opening was the blood bank, and I hated blood banking. I didn’t like the blood bank. I wanted the other part of the laboratory, hematopathology, which is a combination of anatomical pathology with patient— leukemia, lymphoma, intensity. But they told me, well, that’s all. That’s all there is, so they told me, “Why don’t you try it for a year, and then you decide,” so the year is not over yet. It’s a biblical year. (laughs) So, I’m here.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD :
And here you are post retirement still.
Benjamin Lichtiger, MD :
Still waiting for the year. That’s where we are.
Recommended Citation
Lichtiger, Benjamin MD, PhD and Rosolowski, Tacey A. PhD, "Chapter 03: A Pathology Lab Fellow" (2012). Interview Chapters. 1458.
https://openworks.mdanderson.org/mchv_interviewchapters/1458
Conditions Governing Access
Open
