“How long does it take to cool after taking a hot shower?” asked my high school physics teacher. Learning about heat of evaporation, and answers to similar questions, reinforced my interest in science. Working with patients as a volunteer at Boston City Hospital fueled my interest in medical practice. Arising at midnight for emergency neurosurgery cases at Tulane Med School appealed – dealing with tangible medical problems that often were resolved within hours or days. However, the subsequent surgery internship at the Univ. of Washington led to 3 revelations – that the life of a neurosurgeon allowed little time for research, that climbing Mt. Rainier and other Cascades provided exhausting, but worthy, challenges, and I met my partner-for-life. Unsure of my career plans, I became the Peace Corps staff doc in Kathmandu. Life in this resource-poor country was rewarding in many ways.* And, as the PC physician, I did a laboratory-based study. From that I learned that the risk of a GI infection is bigger than any individual can cope with – sanitary measures taken by Peace Corps volunteers had little effect on the frequency of GI symptoms or on rates of helminth infestation.*
Deciding that pathology offered the ideal combination of research and medical practice, I applied to residency programs that provided good clinical training PLUS research opportunities. Barry Pierce, chair at University of Colorado, accepted my application, sight unseen.*
After 5 years of residency, including research with Paul Nakane conjugating peroxidase to antibodies and detecting the earliest day of islet cell differentiation in mice, I accepted my first faculty position at the University of Chicago. In 2 years at UC, between clinical work and research, I learned more science, hands on – generating monoclonal antibodies to keratins, assessing specificity with Western blots, and working with a basic scientist on cell-specific keratins using bronchial islets. And, in a study quantifying desmosomes in different tumors, I learned morphometry and image analysis. Learning how to quantify microscopic features, rigorously, has been a meaningful contribution to my understanding of cell structure.
In 1983 I was asked to consider a position at Yale, which I accepted. Country-wide interest in diagnosing and treating prostate cancer grew. Associated with this growth of interest was an increased demand for faculty coverage of GU conferences. Juan Rosai asked me to cover the multidisciplinary GU conferences. I accepted. My partner and I wondered if we’d ever again live in Seattle. In 1990 I accepted a position as a GU pathologist at UW. The move from Connecticut to Seattle took 3 months.*
The pathology department at UW was growing. Paul Lange, chair of Urology, asked me to join the multidisciplinary prostate research program. My involvement in clinical and basic research grew – rapid autopsies, molecular phenotyping of primary and metastatic prostate ca, testing quantum dot-based immunohistochemistry, and, most recently, helping develop 3D microscopy with machine-learning based virtual immunostains. Along with the opportunities to teach and share what I’d learned – at CME lectures (national & international), invited presentations, and papers. Finally, with 7 colleagues, I learned how easy it was to incorporate a second GU pathology society, GUPS, in 1989.*
To conclude I’ve learned how critical to enjoying the clinical and research experiences that I’ve had are the knowledgeable faculty and inquisitive residents with whom I have worked at each university, supplemented with weekend days in the mountains, and, of greatest importance, life with my partner, Linda J Brown.
* stories that will be told in the second edition of this biosketch.
Larry True, MD
Department of Laboratory Medicine & Pathology
University of Washington, Seattle, WA
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