Chapter 01: An Early Interest in Writing Serves a Career in Science

Chapter 01: An Early Interest in Writing Serves a Career in Science

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Description

In this chapter, Dr. Elting briefly talks about her parents then sketches her early educational experiences. She explains that though she took science and math courses, she loved to write and planned on focusing on writing and literature when she attended Lindenwood University in Saint Charles, Missouri. She explains how her skill in writing has served her career in the sciences. Dr. Elting talks about the learning environment and then explains why she returned to Houston to attend the University of Houston.

Identifier

EltingL_01_20150219_C01

Publication Date

2-19-2015

City

Houston, Texas

Topics Covered

The Interview Subject's Story - Educational Path; Personal Background; Professional Path; Influences from People and Life Experiences; Character, Values, Beliefs, Talents

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 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 A. Rosolowski, PhD:

All right, so we are now recording. And today is February 19th, 2015. The time is about two minutes after two. And I'm Tacey Ann Rosolowski, and today I am on the ninth floor of Pickens Academic Tower in the office ofand I'll make sure I get this rightthe Department of Health Services Research. And I'm interviewing the Chief of Section in that department? Is that correct? No. So

Linda S. Elting, DrPh:

No. Not since my retirement.

Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:

Oh my gosh, I didn't know about that. (laughter) Well, I'm interviewing Linda Elting

Linda S. Elting, DrPh:

Yes.

Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:

And so tell me

Linda S. Elting, DrPh:

And I'm a professor in the Department

Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:

Okay.

Linda S. Elting, DrPh:

of Health Services Research.

Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:

Okay.

Linda S. Elting, DrPh:

But I no longer work full-time.

Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:

Oh, I see. Okay. Well, as you can see, my background research is not totally up to date. (laughter) Well, thank you for that. This project is being conducted for the Making Cancer History Voices Oral History Project run by the Historical Resources Center at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. And, please correct me along the way. Dr. Elting first came to MD Anderson in 1970 working in Coding and Data Collection in the Department of Epidemiology, is thatso, very long history with the institution. She held a number of positions at MD Anderson and elsewhere, and currently, as you just said, you are part-time with the department. You were Chief of Section in Health Services Research?

Linda S. Elting, DrPh:

Mm-hmm.

Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:

And that was from what year to what year, do you recall? I'm sure I

Linda S. Elting, DrPh:

I'd have to look at my CV. (laughter)

Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:

I'll find it on your CV when we talk about that. And if you could tell me, because are you still joint appointment in three departments, or?

Linda S. Elting, DrPh:

Probably on paper I am

Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:

Okay.

Linda S. Elting, DrPh:

But not functionally.

Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:

Okay.

Linda S. Elting, DrPh:

And not since my retirement.

Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:

And those three departments were Biostatistics and Applied Mathematics, let's see, Biostatistics, isn't that [inaudible]?

Linda S. Elting, DrPh:

Biostatistics was the name of Biostatistics and Applied Mathematics. Tacey Rosolowski Until 2003?

Linda S. Elting, DrPh:

Yes.

Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:

All right.

Linda S. Elting, DrPh:

So first it was Biostat Applied Mathematics. Then it became Biostatistics.

Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:

I see.

Linda S. Elting, DrPh:

And I was jointly appointed in Health Disparities Research.

Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:

Okay, great. Okay. Well, and we'll sort allbecause I'm sure that's an interesting history of how those departments

Linda S. Elting, DrPh:

Yes.

Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:

Yes. This session is being held in Dr. Elting's office, and this is the first of a number of planned interview sessions. So thank you for your corrections and for your time this afternoon. (laughter)

Linda S. Elting, DrPh:

You're welcome.

Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:

All right, well let's start with the kind of chronological beginning. And if you could tell me where you were born and when?

Linda S. Elting, DrPh:

I was born in Houston, raised in Houston

Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:

Wow.

Linda S. Elting, DrPh:

Went to school in Houston. The furthest I've ever lived is Friendswood.

Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:

Wow. (laughs)

Linda S. Elting, DrPh:

So I'm a Houston girl.

Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:

And what's your birth date?

Linda S. Elting, DrPh:

February 10th, 1951.

Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:

Happy belated birthday.

Linda S. Elting, DrPh:

Thank you.

Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:

And tell me a little bit about your family. Was there anyone else in your family involved in healthcare, sciences, math?

Linda S. Elting, DrPh:

No, my dad's an attorney.

Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:

Mm-hmm?

Linda S. Elting, DrPh:

Now my grandfather was a dentist, my mother's father, and she got an interest in anatomy and physiology from him. She's a speech and hearing pathologist, so she was very interested in that field.

Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:

And tell me your parents' names.

Linda S. Elting, DrPh:

My dad's name is Sam Sterrett and my mother's name is Sue Warrick Sterrett.

Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:

Now, tell me a little bit about kind of your educational path, and when you were starting to feel like, oh yeah, I kind of know where my interests lie, and what my gifts are starting to be.

Linda S. Elting, DrPh:

Well, I reached that several times on different occasions, all with different decisions. (laughter) I went to Lutheran School through eighth grade, loved to write. And in high school, I went to Houston Independent School District, went to Robert E. Lee High School in Houston and graduated from there. I took a fair amount of science, a little bit of math, not a lot, not as much as I needed later on. But mostly, I was interested in literature and writing. My freshman year in college, I went to Lindenwood College in St. Louis, Missouri.

Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:

Can I interrupt you just for a sec, and ask, what do you think that interest in literature and writing, you know, showed about your skills at that time, and now?

Linda S. Elting, DrPh:

At the time, I thought what I wanted to do was write or teach.

Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:

Mm-hmm?

Linda S. Elting, DrPh:

When I ended up where I ended up along the pathway, it was a skill that I didn't need to remediate. It has allowed me to be a fairly skilled writer from the beginning, as a faculty member.

Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:

Mm-hmm?

Linda S. Elting, DrPh:

That's a skill a lot of faculty members who are science from the beginning don't have. So it saved me time in the long run. I think it's enabled me to write clearly for the lay public, which is often important for us in getting our message across to people who are not scientists. So I think it's been helpful.

Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:

Is there something, too, about, you know, I mean, being a writer takes a very special sensitivity to meaning and kind of the nuance of words, the impact.

Linda S. Elting, DrPh:

Mm-hmm?

Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:

You know, is theredo you see any kind of similarity between your skill and working with that and other areas of your professional life?

Linda S. Elting, DrPh:

I do. But I think what I would say is the thing that has helped me the most. And I don't know if it was a skill I developed or a gift, maybe both. But to be a good writer, and to be a good scientist, you have to synthesize information effectively; whether it's numerical information or verbal information. And then you have to put it together to draw a conclusion. And I think those same thought processes work, whether it's numbers or cells or words.

Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Interesting. Yeah. Well, tell me about the next step, I mean, when did you start to think, saying to yourself, wait a minute, teaching, writing may be not where my main center of gravity is.

Linda S. Elting, DrPh:

Well, I went to college at Lindenwood, and it's a very small school at that point. It's bigger now. But it was a small school, very small classes. And all of my professors were full professors as a freshman, which was very rare then, in classes of twelve and fifteen people. And I took a class as an undergraduate in literature and art history, taught together, and decided that I had to be an art historian. So I thought through that process for a while and recognized that I would have to put together enough money to be able to study overseas. So I came home to go to school at University of Houston, and I enrolled there in art history at night.

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Chapter 01: An Early Interest in Writing Serves a Career in Science

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