Chapter 01: Education with a Strong Humanities Thread
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Description
Dr. Ewer begins this chapter by sketching his family background: German parents who met in England, a father who was a lawyer and a communist agitator in Nazi German, and a physician uncle who had a great influence on him.
Next, Dr. Ewer begins to recount his educational path, noting that he originally intended to be a violinist and attended the High School of Music and Art in New York. He explains his continued participation in music despite his decision not to continue with training in this area once he went to Hunter College [Bronx, New York; BA, 1964]. There he majored in chemistry and credits his father with solidifying his decision to go to medical school at the University of Basel in Basel, Switzerland [MD, 1969]. Dr. Ewer explains his choice to minor in theology to take a philosophical approach to human nature. He talks about features of Swiss medical education, which stressed the clinician’s ability to take care of people. He comments on living overseas.
Next, Dr. Ewer explains the evolution of his interest in anatomy and the opportunity he had to work with the famous surgeon, Rudolph Nissen, then at the University
Identifier
EwerMS_01_20180524_C01
Publication Date
5-24-2018
City
Houston, Texas
Topics Covered
Educational Path; The Researcher; Influences from People and Life Experiences; Patients; Patients, Treatment, Survivors; Discovery and Success; Discovery, Creativity and Innovation; Evolution of Career; Character, Values, Beliefs, Talents; Personal Background; Formative Experiences
Transcript
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
It is ten minutes after 10:00 on the 24th of May, 2018, and I’m Tacey Ann Rosolowski, sitting with Dr. Michael Ewer for our first session together. We’re doing this recording for the Making Cancer History Voices Oral History Project, run by the Research Medical Library at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas, and we are in the Historical Resources Center Reading Room, on the 21st floor of Pickens Tower. And let me just give a little bit of information—we’ll talk about all this stuff a lot later, but just a little snapshot, and if I have gotten anything wrong please correct me. Let’s see. Dr. Ewer came to MD Anderson in 1987, this—
Michael S. Ewer, MD, MPH, JD, LLM, MBA:
On January 1 of 1978.
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
All right! As an instructor in the Division of Medicine. And it was the next year, ’79, that you advanced to assistant professor status, joining the faculty in that capacity. And—
Michael S. Ewer, MD, MPH, JD, LLM, MBA:
And my salary increased from $18,000 a year to $24,000 a year. (laughter)
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
Princely sum!
Michael S. Ewer, MD, MPH, JD, LLM, MBA:
I believe that that’s true. It may have been 24-28, but I’m sure the records, the archives will...
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
Oh my gosh.
Michael S. Ewer, MD, MPH, JD, LLM, MBA:
It was in that ballpark.
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
Sometimes people are really uncomfortable talking about those salary figures, but, I mean, if I understand—
Michael S. Ewer, MD, MPH, JD, LLM, MBA:
And I was so pleased—
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
Of course! ƒƒ
Michael S. Ewer, MD, MPH, JD, LLM, MBA:
—to get that.
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
Yes. Well, I think it’s very interesting to have some of those numbers, because it’s a different—we are living in a different era, and it shows how things have changed, for better or worse, but they have changed. (laughs) Now, we’re going to talk about the many roles that you’ve served in the institution since that time, but I just wanted to note that since 2005 you served as Special Assistant to the Vice President of Medical Affairs. Is that correct?
Michael S. Ewer, MD, MPH, JD, LLM, MBA:
That’s correct.
Recommended Citation
Ewer, Michael S. MD and Rosolowski, Tacey A. PhD, "Chapter 01: Education with a Strong Humanities Thread" (2018). Interview Chapters. 803.
https://openworks.mdanderson.org/mchv_interviewchapters/803
Conditions Governing Access
Open
