Editor’s Corner
Belonging to a Club That Would
Have Me as a Member
E
ASHClinicalNews.org
VEN THOUGH I had practiced my oral presentation a bunch of
times, I still cringed when the session moderator announced the
abstract number, title, and my name as the presenter, calling me
to the stage at precisely 3:45 p.m. No matter how many times
you’re fortunate enough to be invited to present your research at
the ASH annual meeting – and for me, it hasn’t been that often
– you still get nervous during that long, quiet walk, and hope
against hope that you won’t be the guy who trips while climbing
up the stairs.
As I moved toward the stage, looking down to ensure my feet
didn’t get tangled in the electrical wires taped to the floor, the
moderator (a colleague) made a smart-aleck remark about me
into the microphone. I got to the lectern just in time to return
the favor. A few people in the audience laughed, but the remark
threw me enough that I forgot to thank everyone I intended to
before speaking — I just launched into my presentation. Fortunately, it went fairly seamlessly and the questions afterward were
harmless. I left New Orleans thinking the presentation, all in all,
had been a success.
Or so I thought.
Back at the ranch, I had my standing meeting with the cancer
center director. He’s the type of boss who actually attends the oral
presentations and posters of his staff and our institution’s fellows
to recognize their work and show support. Not many bosses take
the time to do that, and it means a lot.
“I went to your talk, at ASH,” he said from the other side of
the round table in his office. He wasn’t the type to sit across a
desk from people.
“Yeah, I saw you, thanks so much, I really appreciated it,” I
answered. And then, almost as a second thought, I asked, “What
did you think?”
He considered this for a few seconds. As I waited for him to
answer, snow started to fall outside his office window, making it
very clear how far we wer