Chapter 01: A Family Tradition in Medicine; Attracted to the Medical Mentality
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Description
Dr. Buzdar begins this chapter by explaining that his father, who was in banking, wanted all his children to become physicians (and they did enter medicine). He explains that the educational system in Pakistan was based on the British system, and he entered the science track in eighth grade. He recounts inspiring scenes from science classes. He also explains that his college and medical school experiences were unique, as he attended the 200 year old Nishtar Medical College, Multan, Pakistan [MB,BS, 1967], where he received a high quality education. Dr. Buzdar notes his own qualities of curiosity, his intellectual interest in medicine, and his interest in "looking for things for tomorrow."
Identifier
BuzdarA_01_20170210_C01
Publication Date
2-10-2017
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 - Educational Path; Personal Background; Inspirations to Practice Science/Medicine; Influences from People and Life Experiences
Transcript
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
All right. The counter is moving and so, here's the identifier. It is about eight minutes after one, on February 10, 2017. I am Tacey Ann Rosolowski and today, I am in the Historical Resources Center Reading Room of the Research Medical Library, and I'm interviewing Dr. Aman U. Buzdar, for the Making Cancer History Voices Oral History Project, run by the Research Library at MD Anderson Cancer Center. I'm going to give a few details about your background, so correct me if I've gotten anything wrong. Dr. Buzdar came to MD Anderson in 1974, as a fellow in oncology, and was this in the Division of Medicine at the time?
Aman Buzdar, MD:
Mm-hmm.
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
Okay. He joined the faculty, as a Faculty Associate, in the Department of Medicine, in the following year, that is 1975. Today, Dr. Buzdar is a Professor of Medicine and Internist, in the Department of Breast Medical Oncology, in the Division of Cancer Medicine, and since 2017, he has held the Edward Rotan Distinguished Professorship in Cancer Research, and since 2010, he has served as Vice President of Clinical Research, correct?
Aman Buzdar, MD:
That's correct.
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
Okay. And that's through the Office of Clinical Research Administration, is that the correct name?
Aman Buzdar, MD:
Yes. The office is called Office of Clinical Research.
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
Okay, but not clinical research administration?
Aman Buzdar, MD:
I think it's the same.
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
It's the same then, okay. I've seen it both ways, so I just didn't want to make a mistake. Well, you know, this is for the record, so. Today is the first of two planned interview sessions and I wanted to thank you for joining today.
Aman Buzdar, MD:
My pleasure.Chapter 01 A: Educational Path; A Family Tradition in Medicine; Attracted to the Medical Mentality 13 min Codes A: Personal Background; A: Inspirations to Practice Science/Medicine; A: Influences from People and Life Experiences
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
I'm really looking forward to talking to you. A number of people have said, Oh, please ask Dr. Buzdar about this and this and this, so I have my list of questions. I wanted to start in kind of the traditional place for oral history, which is if you could tell me where you were born and when, and please tell me a little bit about your family background.
Aman Buzdar, MD:
Actually, I was born in Pakistan, in 1/1/1945. I came to the United States in 1968, as an intern to the University of Hawaii, in Honolulu.
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
Now, tell me a bit about your family. When did you come to the -- so you spent most of your young life in Pakistan.
Aman Buzdar, MD:
Actually, I was 22 when I came to the U.S., and so most of my life, actually I have spent here in the U.S. Since 1968, I have been in the U.S.
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
But you were a young adult, up to the point when you were a young adult, to the point when you were a young adult.
Aman Buzdar, MD:
Yes, yes.
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
So tell me about your family experience and educational experience in Pakistan. What was your family like?
Aman Buzdar, MD:
Let's see. My father was in the banking business, and we were three brothers and one sister. My father, from day one, I think even before we were born, that he wanted his kids to be physicians, and all three of us became physicians. Of course, my sister did not become a physician, but she married a person who was in the irrigation/engineering department. But since his dream, we right now have more than seventeen physicians in our immediate family.
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
That's amazing. Why was your father so fixated on the medical field profession for his children?
Aman Buzdar, MD:
I think because it was kind of a respected field, whereas Pakistan was a new country and every aspect it was corruption and bribery and things like that. Whereas when you went to see the physicians, if you are sick, they will help you. It was considered as a noble profession, so I think that was his thinking behind it.
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
Now, tell me about your educational path, when did you start -- now tell me, did you buy into your dad's dream? Did you say yeah, I want to be a doctor or oh, this is my father's dream, I'm not sure.
Aman Buzdar, MD:
No, actually the thing, how I got interested into it, because the country was evolving and in the eighth grade, there was a choice for all the students, whether you want to go the science route, or you want to go the engineering route, or public route. I was very impressed, because I studied in some of the science class, and one of the teachers --he was amazing and I still remember him. He took the actual phosphorus, which is a basic compound, and he put it in the water and it catches on fire, and it burns inside the water. And I was amazed. That attracted me towards science, and then the option was, Oh you study science, you study the Pakistani national language. So I studied science from eighth grade onward, and that's how I became very interested in the science aspect of it.
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
Now, as you were starting to get into your science courses, was the education organized kind of the way it is in the U.S., where bio is separate from chem, is separate from physics, or was it a different educational organization in Pakistan?
Aman Buzdar, MD:
No, it is very similar to the U.S., but it was more structured towards the British system, which is fairly at the early stage, because Pakistan was what is one time British India and they developed the whole education system for 200 years, when they controlled the subcontinent. So still, the education is very much the British system.
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
Now, which of the branches of the sciences did you find yourself most attracted by at the time?
Aman Buzdar, MD:
I think to me, chemistry and biology were the most interesting aspect of it.
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
And why was that? What suited itself in those fields, to your thinking?
Aman Buzdar, MD:
Because it is almost like an exact science, because the thing is, it's not like poetry or philosophy or things like that, it's fact. This, you do this and it becomes this. To me, that was very attractive and a very interesting aspect of it.
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
Now, did you -- was that something personal, or was that kind of a reaction to uncertainty around you?
Aman Buzdar, MD:
No, I think for me, curiosity was the most amazing thing. Since I started from the eighth grade onward, I was in science, math and biology, and you went through premed, which is like, we had to do two years of college over there. My majors were biology, zoology, chemistry, and physics, those were the five subjects, and even today, I understand Pakistani language literature a very limited way, because I stopped studying it from eighth grade onward.
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
Oh, interesting. Now let's see, you attended -- you got your MBBS, and that's the combined undergraduate/graduate, in 1967, and this is from Nishtar Medical College in Multan, in Pakistan, correct?
Aman Buzdar, MD:
Mm-hmm.
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
Tell me about that whole educational experience. What was the education like as you look back?
Aman Buzdar, MD:
Because at that time, when I was growing up in Pakistan, there was only a handful of medical schools, and it was very competitive. It was on a merit basis, and so I got into that medical school and it was five years of medical school, in contrast to the U.S., which is the four-year medical school. It was a very unique experience, because that medical school was under the university, which was more than 200-plus years old. At that time, that medical school was affiliated with University of Punjab, and this was, at the time, one of the youngest medical schools.
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
Oh, really?
Aman Buzdar, MD:
It was in our hometown, where I went to high school and college, so it was just a few blocks from our house, the medical school.
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
So, did you live at home?
Aman Buzdar, MD:
I lived at home, yes. Because only a handful of people who were selected, because the selection process in each medical school is on a national level. So from our area of the town, which is close to three million people, there was maybe a handful of people who got selected.
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
And so I assume there was a national exam or something of that nature?
Aman Buzdar, MD:
It is the full two-year college, so how you scored on that, and it is a national competition, and you applied and then they take the top tiers.
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
I see. So, you applied to college. Now, did you have to apply again, to get into the medical school track?
Aman Buzdar, MD:
Medical school, yes.
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
Okay, so it was a two-phased process.
Aman Buzdar, MD:
Two, yeah, mm-hmm.
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
Okay. So tell me did you feel that this was a really high quality education? Were there certain areas that were better than others? As you look back, how would you evaluate that?
Aman Buzdar, MD:
Well, I think the education at that point was -- because the country was new but still, the resources, since it was limited, the number of colleges or medical schools which were there -- so the standard was very high at that time and it met the global standard. At that time, like if I wanted to go to UK, you didn't have to go to take any extra exams.
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
Oh, really? Wow.
Aman Buzdar, MD:
So, you graduate and it will be recognized in all the British system, whereas to come to the U.S., you had to take a separate exam. I took that exam in the fourth year of medical school, one year I still had from graduation. I was maybe fortunate or lucky that I passed, and I still had one more year of medical school. But, I wrote a few hospital essays, saying I'm going to graduate in X, Y, Z time, and I want to come as a postgraduate trainee.
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
Gotcha.
Aman Buzdar, MD:
Several places said, Oh, you can come, this and that, because this was in the '60s. Their need of doctors in the U.S., and the University of Hawaii was the one thing we said you are not only selected, but if you go to Pan Am, there is a ticket waiting for you, to come to Honolulu.
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
They were very interested.
Aman Buzdar, MD:
They were very interested.
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
Now, let me back up just a bit though. How did your interests in medicine evolve during your medical school training?
Aman Buzdar, MD:
Well, I think once you get into it, it is very intriguing. Because the thing is, you have to have a certain mentality to get into the field of medicine or engineering. Some of my cousins, they were in the engineering and things like that. They thought differently. Whereas the medicine, you have to have curiosity and understand why things happen and how you can reverse the things, and so on.
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
This is sort of an off the wall question, but did you have kind of experiences with physicians when you were growing up, where you thought oh, that's what I want to do?
Aman Buzdar, MD:
No, actually it was not. I didn't have a specific idol that I said I want to become like this physician.
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
So it was more of an intellectual.
Aman Buzdar, MD:
A mostly intellectual challenge, because the key thing to me at that time -- because the country and the medicine was evolving, in the '60s and '70s, there was a few things you could cure, because antibiotics were still few, anticancer therapies were practically nonexistent, and the surgery was the major thing. So everybody who went into medical field, the majority of them, including myself, wants, once I graduate, I wanted to become a surgeon.
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
  Oh, really?
Aman Buzdar, MD:
But, during my first year in the U.S., when I came, at that time were what they used to call rotating internship, that you rotated X number of days in medicine, X number of days in surgery, OB/GYN, pediatrics and so on.
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
And this was at Kuakini Hospital.
Aman Buzdar, MD:
Kuakini. These were three hospitals where you had a combined program. Kuakini was the main hospital, but other was Queens and St. Francis. You had to rotate through all these three separate systems. This program was under the University of Hawaii, postgraduate program.
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
So tell me about what attracted you. What made you turn away from the idea of being a surgeon?
Aman Buzdar, MD:
I think surgery to me looked much more like cutting and sewing things, whereas medicine was evolving and it was more challenging. Eventually, I became interested in oncology, and my family, as I told you before, they were all physicians. My older brother was an ophthalmologist and he thought well, maybe I must suck, that I couldn't become a surgeon. (both laugh)
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
So when did the interest in oncology start?
Aman Buzdar, MD:
Because I switched to medicine, because it was more curiosity and more things you could do once you came to the U.S., because cardiology was evolving, and things like that. Oncology was still at a very young age.
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
So you were attracted to the areas where there was more unknown basically.
Aman Buzdar, MD:
More unknown and that you have to look for the things for tomorrow.
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
Right. Oh, okay, interesting. Now, do you remember any particular cases or patients that kind of really presented a challenge, that helped you crystallize that view?
Aman Buzdar, MD:
Oh yeah, because I think after I decided I wanted to become an internal medicine doctor, internist, then I was more gravitating towards cardiology. Because at that time, there was a lot of things cardiology was evolving, things like that, but when I was doing my -- as a chief resident, I was doing some elective rotations in hematology oncology. And there was a lady who was kind of comatose, and she had very high calcium, and we gave very primitive medicine according to today's standards, and the next day the lady was wide awake. Her calcium went down and we were able to discharge her, I thought this is amazing. So, that's what actually gravitated me towards oncology.
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
How did that happen? How did that path move towards oncology? Now, did she have cancer?
Aman Buzdar, MD:
Oh, she had breast cancer.
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
She had breast cancer, okay.
Aman Buzdar, MD:
She had breast cancer and she had very high calcium.
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
Oh, wow, okay. Why did she have the high calcium?
Aman Buzdar, MD:
Because when the breast cancer gets to the bones, it causes destruction of the bones, and it causes a lot of release of the calcium from the bones. So that's how I would come. I spent one year over there, this was -- I was in New England at that time, and I did one year of residency there, and then the next year, I end up at MD Anderson, in 1975.
Recommended Citation
Buzdar, Aman U. MD and Rosolowski, Tacey A. PhD, "Chapter 01: A Family Tradition in Medicine; Attracted to the Medical Mentality" (2017). Interview Chapters. 562.
https://openworks.mdanderson.org/mchv_interviewchapters/562
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