ASH Clinical News January 2017 | Page 12

UP FRONT
Pulling Back the Curtain : Ross Levine , MD
and I traveled around the world and met great people while representing the university ’ s debate team at national and world competitions .
The skills I learned in debate have also been invaluable in my career as an investigator . Because of those experiences , I think I am better equipped to present my ideas and work in an articulate way – a skill I don ’ t think we spend enough time trying to inculcate in academic medicine . For example , I recently presented at a conference – not ASH ! – where my slides didn ’ t work . Ninety percent of the graphics didn ’ t show up , but I was able to finish the next 25 minutes of the presentation because , as debate had taught me , I made sure to know my stuff so I could present it with or without the visual aids .
What type of advice did your mentors and teachers give you throughout your career ? I have been blessed with worldclass mentors at every stage of my career . I went to medical school not expecting to become a laboratory scientist . If , as a firstyear medical student , I hadn ’ t worked with Lora Ellison , MD , a gynecologic cancer researcher and pathologist , I probably wouldn ’ t be doing what I ’ m doing today .
I would say the most formative mentor in my career was Gary Gilliland , MD , PhD , with whom I worked during my postdoctoral fellowship . He was unmatched in every way , helping me with my scientific career . He also taught me how to be a mentor . It ’ s difficult to describe how indebted to him I am .
Being a mentee doesn ’ t end when you become an independent investigator or a faculty member . Charles Sawyers , MD , who recruited me to Memorial Sloan Kettering , and Craig Thompson , MD , have also been incredible sources of mentorship and support .
Career development is why academic scientists do what we do . I often think about how to pay that forward , or how to be as good of a mentor to others as mine were to me .
In that vein , what advice do you pass on to the young investigators you work with ? Focus on what ’ s important , both scientifically and personally . There are plenty of things we can do in our scientific careers and in our lives that are hard to do , but that does not mean that they are all important . If we are going to put real effort into something , it should be toward a worthy goal .
So how do you figure out what ’ s important ? Like I tell the young investigators I work with , it ’ s an iterative process . Many people , including Stephen Nimer , MD , have given me this advice : Ask yourself on an annual basis , “ What am I doing ? What are the questions I am working on answering ? What are the most important things to me , scientifically and personally ?” Over time , certain things become more important , and others become less important . When I ask myself these questions , I am always surprised how often the answers lead me to re-prioritize . Then , of course , you have to balance those bigger-picture goals with the day-to-day prioritization of your time – that ’ s more difficult and something I think we are all working toward .
How do you think hematology and medicine have changed since you started your career ? The commitments involved with running a lab today are different than in the past . Being a lab director used to mean most of

“ Career development is why academic scientists do what we do . I often think about how to be as good of a mentor to others as mine were to me .” your time was spent in the lab , thinking about your science ; now , as a laboratory head and a translational scientist , you have to actively protect your time to do those things that are really meaningful . The upside of that change is that what we do in the lab and what we do in the clinic are closely linked . Much of what we do in my lab is based on ideas that , if successful , can get tried in the clinic , and much of what happens in the clinic leads to ideas we can send to the lab .

On a typical day , what is your rose and what is your thorn ? The best part of the day is always when I sit with people in my lab – whether in one-on-one meetings or with the whole lab group – and look at the new science we ’ re exploring . I love seeing what we ’ re doing as a group and watching the data emerge in real time . It ’ s the most amazing part of what we do : getting to see research in its nascent form and watching it evolve . I wouldn ’ t trade that for anything .
The challenge is that we are spending more of our time in meetings . We ’ re discussing important things – projects , regulations , collaborations , review panels , and more – but the 30-minute blocks start to add up , so I relish when some of those blocks are about the science .
How do you achieve the balance between your work life and your life outside of medicine ? What makes that difficult ? I am fortunate to have a wonderful family . My wife , Erica , and I have three great kids : our son ( 12 years old ) and two daughters ( 9 and 6 years old ). They support me , and I try my best to support them and balance their needs with the needs of my career .
I enjoy the time I spend with my family , and I feel this makes me better at my job . The jobs we have in academic medicine are really hungry – they can easily consume every hour or minute that is available . You have to work at protecting your time ; you can ’ t just expect it to evolve passively .
To me , the most important thing has been having a partner in this enterprise . Erica and I have been together for a long time ; we both recognize how critical it is to support each other on every level and to understand each other ’ s priorities – both professionally and personally .
Is your wife also in medicine ? In a sense – she is a regulatory affairs specialist who helps investigators move drugs through the U . S . Food and Drug Administration approval landscape . She has a great appreciation for biomedical research and investigation . It ’ s nice because we are able to talk to each other about what we do , but we don ’ t do the same thing . It ’ s a good balance .
She works at the same institution , but in a different area of town . We both work in Manhattan and the kids go to schools relatively nearby so this helps with spending time together . We run into each other periodically , and sometimes I stop by and say hi to my kids out in their schools ’ playgrounds when I ’ m running around between meetings . It ’ s the little moments that matter the most .
Each of our kids is different , with his or her own interests . It ’ s great to be able to do with them the things they each enjoy . However , all three enjoy playing sports , which is great . I love sports and am a big baseball fan , so we spend a lot of time watching and going to games .
Mets or Yankees ? Mets , absolutely . In 1986 , I was 14 years old , which means I was in my formative baseball years when the Mets were a compelling team . I grew up about 30 miles outside of New York City , so I was always a New York sports fan , and I ’ m proud to say that I ’ ve remained a New York sports fan despite a significant sojourn through New England .
What is one thing most people don ’ t know about you ? Not many people know that , going into college and medical school , I really had no expectation of becoming a laboratory scientist and didn ’ t find this field until very late in my career . If you had asked me what I would be doing with my medical degree at my college graduation , I would never have dreamed that I ’ d be doing what I do today . I was lucky to find something relatively late that I enjoyed and then to really go after it – even though it was an unusual path to get here . ●
10 ASH Clinical News January 2017