Meet the history buff: Laurence A. Boxer, MD

Before entering medical school, Boxer considered a career as a history professor.

Laurence A. Boxer, MD, is the Henry and Mala Dorfman Family Professor of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology at the University of Michigan School of Medicine. He is also the school’s former director of pediatric hematology/oncology and HemOnc Today Section Editor for Pediatric Hematology and Leukocyte Disorders.

Laurence A. Boxer

In 2008, he received the Distinguished Lifetime Career Award from the American Society of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, and he was identified as an Outstanding Stanford Medical Alumni. The same year, Stanford’s Board of Governors also named him as one of two recipients of the J.E. Wallace Sterling Muleshoe Lifetime Alumni Achievement Award, recognizing his “contributions to the care of critically ill children,” and what the school called his internationally recognized successes as a physician and scientist.

What do you like to do when not practicing medicine?

I like to read history — American history and ancient Greek and Roman history. I was a history major in college.

What would you be doing now if you hadn’t gone into medicine?

I’d be a history professor. I became very interested in history in high school. Fortunately for me, I feel I redeemed myself because I wrote a history book a few years ago called “Hematology: Landmark Papers of the Twentieth Century” with four internal medicine colleagues. We indentified 85 papers, divvied them up according to our particular interests and wrote a précis on each of the papers as to their import to the field.

What do you consider your biggest success in your field?

I’ve trained some outstanding fellows who’ve gone to amazing careers: Dr. Valerie Castle, chair of pediatrics at Michigan; Dr. Steven Pipe, now my successor as division chief of pediatric hematology/oncology; Dr. Greg Plautz, division chief of pediatric hematology/oncology at Cleveland Clinic; Dr. Dan Wechsler, division chief at Duke; Dr. Paul Meltzer, head of pediatric sarcoma research at the NIH.

What’s the best advice you’ve ever gotten?

From my mentor at Harvard, Tom Stossel, who gave me four bits of advice when I left Boston. He said that as junior faculty, I had to learn to eat crap. He wasn’t so polite. Numbers two and three, I forget. The fourth was, “If you want to win honors and awards as a senior citizen, don’t die.”

Besides Stossel, who else do you consider a mentor?

David Nathan, who was my division chief and later went on to become chair of the department of pediatrics at Children’s Hospital Boston, then head of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. He’s a remarkable mentor because he keeps track of you all your life. We’ve always had a warm relationship, and he’s been very supportive throughout my career.

What do you think will have the biggest influence on oncology over the next decade?

Prognostication and therapy for patients with childhood leukemia. With the new proteomic research that’s ongoing, it’s becoming possible to predict which patients are going to require longer and more intense therapy. That research is really in its infancy, but during the next decade, we’ll truly be able to individualize care for patients with leukemia.

What was the last book you read?

The last book I read was “The Doctors.” It’s a history of medicine that starts with Hippocrates and goes forward through the end of the 20th century. I enjoy reading books by David McCullough, who has written books on John Adams, “1776,” Harry Truman, and Theodore Roosevelt.

What was the last CD you bought?

I very much enjoy Judy Collins. We went to high school together she was a year ahead of me. We took contemporary literature together, but I doubt she’d know me. She played here in Ann Arbor and I went onstage to introduce myself, but I’m not a major player in her life.

Do you have a diet and exercise regimen?

I try to work out four times a week on the elliptical trainer and then weights. I eat in moderation. There’s data to show no one particular diet is better than any other. Everything in moderation, as the Greeks would say.

What’s your favorite travel destination?

Hawaii. We lived there for three years. I went there as a physician drafted in the army during the Vietnam War and I was stationed there at a teaching hospital. We came to love the Hawaiian culture, as well as the beauty of the islands. Obviously, I was very lucky.

Do you have a favorite restaurant?

One of my favorites is in San Francisco, a place called the Slanted Door — Asian fusion cuisine. – by Jason Harris