Renowned leukemia specialist finds innovation is ‘common ground’ between medicine, painting
Hagop Kantarjian, MD, is internationally recognized as a pioneer in the medical field.
He aspires to develop a similar reputation in an entirely different realm.
“I’m hoping I’ll perhaps become as well-known as an artist as I am as a leukemia doctor,” Kantarjian told Healio.
That is an incredibly lofty goal.
Kantarjian, — chair of the leukemia department at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center — received ASCO’s David A. Karnofsky Memorial Award and Lecture this in recognition of his lifelong contributions to leukemia research, which has helped dramatically improve survival for the two most common subtypes.
When he isn’t in the clinic or laboratory, Kantarjian enjoys creating preternaturally colorful Fauvist-style paintings. Several of his works hang in the halls of MD Anderson’s leukemia department.
“I do the paintings to get away from daily activities and work,” Kantarjian said. “When people get stressed, they need to have outlets they can enjoy. Painting is one of my outlets.”
Kantarjian spoke with Healio about his lifelong love of art, his commitment to ongoing innovation in leukemia research, and whether he finds similarities between art and medicine.
Healio: How long have you been painting, and how did this become a passion for you?
Kantarjian: I used to draw and paint as a child. When I reached adolescence, I stopped. In 1993, I had a lot of time on my hands, so I went back and took painting classes with an artist who comes from Saint Petersburg, Russia, and used to be a curator for Hermitage Museum there. He had moved to the United States and was teaching painting in his garage in Houston, close to my house. I would go there once or twice a week in the evening for a 2-hour session.
I continued with him until 1995. He was a classic painter, and I wanted to be more of an impressionistic and Fauvistic painter. At that point, I thought it might be a good time to try to engage in learning from impressionists and devising my own artwork.
At the beginning, I was very slow because I wasn’t very good at either drawing or creating the sceneries and mixing the colors. As I went along, I started becoming a bit more confident. Now I’m very happy with what I do.
Healio: What about making art do you find fulfilling?
Kantarjian: Painting is very creative and very innovative. It releases your imagination and takes you to places you haven’t explored before. It is a very fulfilling hobby.
Work is also very fulfilling to me. Through the maze of medical school and various specialties, I was lucky to end up a leukemia physician. I don’t think I would have been happy being a physician in any other specialty — or focusing on any other tumor type within cancer.
Healio: Have you exhibited or sold any of your paintings?
Kantarjian: No, I am still an amateur. I don’t exhibit and I don’t sell. I’ve given away many of my paintings to friends and family members, including my son, my sisters and my brothers. I’ve also given several paintings to the leukemia staff. Because my house is full of paintings, I tend to put them in the leukemia department at MD Anderson. Once in a while, [someone on the staff] might like one of the paintings. If they have worked in the department for 3 years or more, they become eligible to receive one. It has to be a situation where someone really likes the work and wants to have one particular painting.
Healio: Have you ever given one to a patient?
Kantarjian: Yes. A few patients knew I was painting and, after walking the corridors of the leukemia department, they might say, “I love this painting.” I’ve given several of them to patients. I hope they really enjoy the paintings and are not just doing this to be nice to me.
Healio: What themes are you drawn to when you paint?
Kantarjian: I do many still lives with vases, or tables with objects on them. I paint women in different poses. I do a lot of bistro or restaurant scenes. I also paint nature, but with a very Fauvistic outlook. It’s not real nature — the colors are bold and often not found in nature. It really stands out.
Healio: Why do you prefer Fauvistic painting to classical painting?
Kantarjian: It blends colors that you don’t intuitively think of. When you see a Fauvistic painting, the colors are so strong that people often don’t like it, but that’s the pattern of innovation. You’re mixing colors that do not exist on their own in nature. I like this a lot. Fauvistic painting was popular in the early 1920s and then it fell out of favor. But to me, it’s one of the most beautiful forms of art.
Healio: Do you plan to exhibit or sell your work in the future?
Kantarjian: Not now. Perhaps when I retire, I will take it as a full-time job, and maybe then will be a good time to see if people enjoy the paintings enough to acquire them.
Healio: Are there any similarities between art and medicine?
Kantarjian: What could be considered similar between leukemia research and painting is the level of innovation. Cancer research — and leukemia research in particular — is evolving very quickly. When I started in 1980, the two acute leukemias were only curable at the rate of 20%, and only with intensive chemotherapy. The two chronic leukemias were incurable. Today, the two chronic leukemias are potentially curable with simple pills, and the two acute leukemias are curable at rates of 60% to 80%, with less chemotherapy and more targeted therapies.
In the last 10 or 20 years, we have made tremendous progress in adult cancers, particularly in leukemia, lymphoma, multiple myeloma, breast cancer, melanoma, lung cancer and others, to the point where [people with a variety of malignancies] across age groups are doing extremely well with much less of the traditional intensive chemotherapy.
Regarding leukemia, because we have deciphered the nature of [the disease], we’ve been able to develop targeted therapies. That’s the nature of innovation in leukemia. It can be translated into painting, where you create imagery and create the colors that go with that imagery. That innovation in these two areas is a common ground.
For more information:
Hagop Kantarjian, MD, can be reached at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, 1515 Holcombe Blvd. #853, Houston, TX 77030; email: hkantarjian@mdanderson.org.
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