Hooked on Rheum with Christopher R. Morris, MD
My inspiration for becoming a rheumatologist is increasingly common. However, when I followed my father, Alton J. Morris, MD, into rheumatology, I was one of the first rheumatologists to follow in their parents’ footsteps.
My father was a tough act to follow. He had been a part of Lasker award-winning research on rheumatic fever in Wyoming in the 1950s. He was one of the founding fellows of the American Rheumatism Association, predecessor to the American College of Rheumatology. I remember hearing a story about him and my mother playing bridge with a delightful scientist from England; afterward, she learned that her playing partner was a Nobel laureate.
I recall a time as a child when a patient of my father’s came up to him while we were shopping at Christmas. He had been asked to start a renal dialysis and transplant program and was leaving his private practice, which caused this patient to be very upset over losing him as a physician.
“You’re the only one who will put up with me,” she told him. My father reassured her that he would continue to provide care to “special” patients such as her.
I had the opportunity to work with my father for 15 years. I learned so much from his years of knowledge and experience. He showed me how to be a caring, conscientious physician. I admit that I had been intimidated growing up with a father who had achieved so much. However, once I joined him in practice, he treated me as a colleague, often enlisting my counsel on a complicated case or a new treatment.
My father never retired. He would say, “I will retire tomorrow, but tomorrow has not come.” He had always hoped to return to our practice despite the illness that ultimately took his life.
My maternal grandfather’s best friend was an internist in Springfield, Illinois, named Dr. Emmett Pearson. He was my father’s first partner, and he gave my dad an ocean of knowledge about the practice of medicine. He passed what he learned from Dr. Pearson on to me, and I have tried to impart that knowledge to my practice partners, as well as the 200-plus residents and medical students who have rotated with me.
At the time I completed fellowship, I knew of two or three others who were rheumatologic legacies. Today, I know of a number of rheumatologists who have offspring who have followed in their footsteps. I will always cherish the opportunity I had to be a true colleague of my father, and hope that I have filled his shoes to the best of my abilities.
Christopher R. Morris, MD
Rheumatologist
Arthritis Associates of Kingsport
Kingsport, Tennessee