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ΣΥΝΕΝΤΕΥΞΗ
Tεύχος 31 | Σεπτέμβριος - Οκτώβριος 2024
Η ακόλουθη συνέντευξη πραγματοποιήθηκε μέσω Zoom. Απομαγνητοφώνηση & επιμέλεια κειμένου: Θεόδωρος Σπίνος, ειδικευόμενος Ουρολόγος & Φίλιππος Νικητάκης, μέλη συντακτικής ομάδας του Newsletter.
Theodoros Spinos (T.S.): How did you decide to become a urologist?
Prof. Ralph V. Clayman: I had no interest in Urology in medical school. In 1973, when I was an intern at the University of Minnesota, you had a rotating internship. During that rotating internship, I got exposed to Urology through Dr. Fraley, who was the Chairman of the Department, and also the wonderful and sadly now passed, Dick Williams, who became Chairman at the University of Iowa, and Bill DeWolf, who became Chair at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. Those individuals, along with Paul Lange, who became Chair at University of Washington, were all residents at that time at the University of Minnesota. By associating with them and with Dr. Fraley, I decided that these were the people with whom I'd like to work and to emulate. As such, I decided to go into Urology. If they had been in any other specialty, I probably would have gone into that specialty. Urology, I think, is very unique. It draws a certain type of individual and those individuals very well fit my personality and made me very excited to become a urologist.
Filippos Nikitakis (F.N.): What was the key factor that initially drew your attention to minimally-invasive surgery in Urology?
Prof. Ralph V. Clayman: In two words, Arthur Smith when he was at the University of Minnesota. When I was a resident, Arthur had come from South Africa to Minnesota, and he was the one who then created a relationship with the radiologists at the VA in Minneapolis. They started placing nephrostomy tubes and began to work on dissolving stones. Also, Arthur was the first one to use a percutaneous nephrostomy track in order to pull up a stent from below; that was one of the earliest indications that the nephrostomy tract could be used for more than just draining urine. Those were the very earliest days of Endourology. Indeed, I had no interest in endourology at all. My interest was solely in cancer, and that's the way I went through my residency, as Dick, Bill, and Paul were all focused on uro-oncology. Dick Williams and I actually made fun of Endourology, calling it "the end of Urology". When I finished my residency, I came on
faculty at the Veterans Administration Hospital, also known as the VA. Paul Lange was then the chief at the VA, and I was brought on there as an Assistant Professor. Soon thereafter, Arthur Smith accepted the position of Chair of Urology at Long Island Jewish Hospital in New York. Paul realized that he needed someone to continue the Endourology work that Arthur had pioneered, so, he came to me and asked me, if I would do Endourology. I told him: "No, I had no interest in Endourology". I just wanted to continue doing my work in renal cancer. About a week later, he came into my office and explained to me in no uncertain terms that as he was the Chairman of Urology at the VA and that given Arthur’s departure, I would now be doing Endourology, period. End of story and thus I got dragged, kicking and screaming into the realm of Endourology, which was clearly, as my career unfolded, was the best thing that ever happened to me.
F.N.: In 1984, you established the first national fellowship program in minimally-invasive Urology. What was the driving force that led to the development of this program?
Prof. Ralph V. Clayman: This again was all serendipity. Howard Winfield had come to Washington University, basically to do what today would be a fellowship in oncology presumably with Bill Catalona who was Chief of the Division of Urology. However, there was no established fellowship and when he got to Washington University it became apparent that there wasn't much that he was going to be doing with regard to prostate cancer or oncology in general. Howard had visited with me earlier
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