WHY I CHOSE HEMATOLOGY ?

After graduating from Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine in 1970, with the support of my professors I began corresponding with universities abroad to pursue residency training. During this period I met Prof. Faruk Özer, the head of the Hacettepe Faculty of Medicine Hematology Department, who made me love hematology and sparked my interest in the field., Türkiye On July 1, 1971, I started my straight medical internship at Newark Medical School Hospital/Jersey City Medical Center. At the beginning of 1972, I transferred to Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia (Jefferson Medical College), to which I had applied, and in 1974 I completed my internal medicine residency. While training in internal medicine, I met Prof. Allan J. Erslev, the head of the Hematology Department and director of the Cardeza Foundation for Hematologic Research, and I began attending the early-morning slide discussion sessions he organized for residents. He would put the peripheral smear and bone marrow slides of inpatients onto the microscope, have us read them, and ask us to interpret the findings. We received an excellent education in morphology. These morning sessions created a passion for hematology in me, because we could make diagnoses by directly examining morphology alongside the clinical and laboratory findings. No other subspecialty offered such a superb opportunity. This excited and motivated me., Türkiye With that excitement, I began my hematology fellowship in July 1974. Our department chair, Prof. Allan J. Erslev, had identified the hormone erythropoietin in 1953 while working at Harvard Medical School. In my second year as a clinical fellow, he suggested that I conduct research on erythropoietin. Thus, starting in 1976, I focused my research on extrarenal sources of erythropoietin and on immunology. One of Prof. Erslev’s most important contributions to modern hematology is that the erythropoietin hormone he described was later produced recombinantly and is now widely used in clinical practice for many anemias, especially in chronic renal failure. At that time Prof. Allan J. Erslev was also preparing a new hematology textbook, and in 1972 he began serving as a co-editor—together with Williams, Rundles, and Beutler—of the book HEMATOLOGY , which went on to become the much-read “ Williams Hematology” , now in its 10th edition. Prof. Erslev entrusted me with many tasks in the preparation of this book. I would go to the famous Saunders Publishing house next to Thomas Jefferson University and, working together with the responsible editors, proofread and revise the chapters I had corrected. This greatly contributed to my affection for hematology and to my training. Thus, even before the book’s first edition in 1974, I had the opportunity to read the entirety of a very important text in hematology., Türkiye At the Hematology Department of Thomas Jefferson University, I had the opportunity to do both clinical and research fellowships until 1980. In my research, I examined the antigenic and immunologic characteristics of extrarenal erythropoietin. During this period, I received comprehensive training in hematopoiesis and bone marrow physiology as well as cellular immunology. Encouraged by Prof. Erslev, I even completed a master’s program in protein science at Temple University in my second fellowship year. Later, to better understand stem-cell biology, he arranged for me to work for a time at the Toronto Cancer Center, where Prof. Ernest McCulloch and Prof. James Till—who, in their 1961 publications, identified hematopoietic stem cells in mice—were based. All these experiences greatly helped me learn the fundamental principles of hematology in depth., Türkiye Together with my wife, Prof. Tülay Kansu, we completed our postgraduate training in Philadelphia between 1972 and 1980. During my years in Philadelphia, I had the opportunity to meet and work with many distinguished hematologists who made very significant contributions to the field. Prof. Peter C. Nowell of the University of Pennsylvania (who identified the Philadelphia chromosome), Prof. Sol Sherry of Temple University in the field of coagulation, Prof. Sandy Shapiro in anti-phospholipid syndrome and Prof. James Holland the founder of CALGB, among many other esteemed hematologists. Through these collaborations, I gained highly valuable academic knowledge and experience from pioneers of the field., Türkiye Over the last 50 years, hematology has seen major scientific advances that have improved patients’ quality of life and expanded treatment options. Among these are the development of cell-culture and genetic technologies; stem-cell transplantation; cancer immunotherapy and targeted therapies; checkpoint inhibitors; gene therapy; biotechnology; innovations in the treatment of sickle-cell disease and thalassemia and advances in imaging and diagnostic methods. In conclusion, I believe that the hematology subspecialty—which I chose with determination and affection in the final years of my internal medicine residency—has made very important contributions to my academic life. I sincerely recommend that our young colleagues choose hematology in their subspecialty training and academic careers.

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