UP FRONT
Pulling Back the Curtain
Martin S. Tallman, MD
We can learn much more from the prominent leaders in hematology and oncology
than clinical expertise. In “Pulling Back the Curtain,” we speak with hematology/oncology professionals about how they approach their leadership positions and what
advice they would give those just getting started in the field. In this edition, Martin
S. Tallman, MD, walks us through his path to medicine and discusses the importance of life outside of medicine. Dr. Tallman is chief of the Leukemia Service at
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, New York.
Martin S. Tallman, MD
What was your first job?
I grew up in the northern suburbs
of Chicago, and was a paperboy
in elementary school. During
the summers, I woke up very
early in the morning, went to the
paper distribution center, put the
sections of the paper together,
loaded them into the large basket
on the front of my bicycle, and
biked the delivery route.
That was my first job and
also my worst job! It was torture
dragging myself out of bed in the
early-morning darkness.
My favorite job was working
at one of the concession stands at
the Ravinia Festival, an outdoor
summer music park that is the
summer home of the Chicago
Symphony. In contrast to
delivering newspapers at 5 a.m.,
it was a terrific summer job. We
worked until intermission, and
then we were given free admission
to the park. The concerts were not
limited to classical music; there
were performances from legends
like Ella Fitzgerald, pop stars, and
a variety of contemporary bands.
Ravinia is similar to Tanglewood
outside of Boston, to which my
wife Wendy and I make at least
one pilgrimage every summer. We
like opening night (often James
Taylor) and movie night when the
Boston Symphony plays a medley
of film music. I also always look
forward to hearing Yo-Yo Ma if he
is playing.
If you hadn’t gone into
medicine, what career could
you see yourself in?
Medicine is such a rewarding
profession, but if I weren’t in
medicine, I think law would
be a fascinating career. I never
thought much about law when
I was younger, but we have
four children and two of them
are lawyers: Sarah works for
the Natural Resource Defense
Council, an environmental
organization (She says, “I work
ASHClinicalNews.org
for trees!”), and Sam is a deputy
district attorney. When Sarah
was preparing for the bar exam,
we would go through the test
questions from her bar review
course textbook, and I learned to
appreciate the intricate facets of
the law.
Did any of your children go
into medicine?
Our youngest, Jacob, is a
second-year medical student
at the University of Chicago.
He was an undergraduate at
Cornell University, and spent
two summers working in the
laboratory with one of my
colleagues, Ross Levine, MD. The
other children (the two lawyers
and one elementary school
teacher inspired by the Teach
for America program) were not
interested in medicine, but Jacob
has a scientific mind, and we
think he will flourish.
Did you always know
you wanted to go into
medicine?
I did – I never thought much
about any other field except a
transient flirtation with music.
More on that later...
My path has been very
clear. As a high school student,
I had a close childhood friend
whose father, Bernard Adelson,
MD, was an internist and a
nephrologist. We spent a lot
of time at each other’s houses,
and I always looked forward to
talking with his father about his
patients. He was a warm and
compassionate physician. The
diseases in internal medicine
he dealt with had great appeal
to me. I always enjoyed science,
but the conversations I had with
him about his day-to-day routine
motivated me to pursue medicine.
When I was an intern at
Northwestern University,
there were two physicians
who inspired me to focus on
hematology as a field and acute
leukemia as a specific disease.
Harry Miller, MD, and Steve
Kurtides, MD, both brilliant
internists and hematologists were
really responsible for my early
fascination with acute leukemia.
During my hematology rotation
early in my internship year, Dr.
Kurtides invited me to join him
at the ASH annual meeting. I
attended and have been intrigued
by hematology and acute leukemia
ever since. That was in 1980, when
the meeting could still fit into one
hotel. I’ve only missed one ASH
annual meeting since then, when
our daughter Miriam was born.
(Her birthday is December 8, so I
am never home for it; she reminds
me of that every year!).
My commitment to clinical
investigation in acute leukemia
was clearly solidified at the Fred
Hutchinson Cancer Research
Center and University of
Washington in Seattle, where
I had additional inspiring role
models during my fellowship:
Fred Appelbaum, MD, and E.
Donnall Thomas, MD.
What advice would you pass
on to mentees and younger
hematologists/oncologists?
Firstly, I would encourage fellows
to focus on a particular area or
disease as early as possible. I’ve
been passionate about hematology
from day one. Since I was an
intern, I’ve always wanted to work
in the area of acute leukemia. The
disease was the most in FV