Pulling Back the Curtain
Eduardo M. Sotomayor, MD
In this edition, Eduardo M. Sotomayor, MD, talks about the importance of passion,
positivity, and persistence in pursuing your ideas. Dr. Sotomayor is director of the
GW Cancer Center at George Washington University in Washington, DC.
have been an economist. They are
two very different fields, but my
twin interests have always been
policy and medicine.
Eduardo M. Sotomayor, MD, with
his family, from left: wife (Maria), son
(Eduardo Jr.), and daughter (Mariana).
Where did you grow up?
I was blessed to grow up in a small,
oceanside town (San Juan de
Marcona) in the southern part of
Peru. It was an easygoing existence
with no stress – that’s what hap-
pens when you live by the ocean, I
guess. I was the youngest of seven
children. My father worked for the
Marcona Mining Company for
many years, and my mother was at
home taking care of all of us.
Did you always know you
wanted to go into medicine?
I can trace that decision to one
distinct memory: I was around 5
years old when I was burned by
hot water on my face, arm, and
leg. I was taken to the hospital and
I stayed there for several weeks. I
12
ASH Clinical News
spent a lot of time talking with the
doctors, nurses, and nurses’ assis-
tants, and I started thinking, “This
is cool.” That’s when my passion
for medicine began.
When I was older, that inter-
est continued to grow, helped by
a visit from one of my uncles who
was studying medicine. During his
visit, he shared with me what he
was studying and showed me some
of his textbooks. That’s when I de-
cided I wanted to be a physician.
What was your first job?
My first job was at Federico
Villarreal Medical School in
Lima, Peru, when I was a medical
student in 1982. I was learning
more about biochemistry and
immunology, and Juan Falen,
MD, PhD, a professor in the
Department of Biochemistry
asked me to help him in the
department during my free hours.
Initially it was unpaid, but they
eventually gave me a stipend, so I
must have done a good job.
I have had influential mentors
at every step in my career, and
Dr. Falen was the first. He was
incredibly stringent, but also kind.
And he really was responsible for
sparking my love of science and
immunology.
Did you ever consider
pursuing another career
besides medicine?
If I hadn’t gone to medical school,
I would have liked to study eco-
nomic policy and would probably
What advice do you offer
young hematologists/
oncologists?
First, I teach the “three Ps”: Pas-
sion, positivity, and persistence.
Any success I have had is attribut-
able to following those principles.
Second, I share something I
learned from Robert C. Gallo, MD,
the scientist who co-discovered
HIV. When I was a junior scientist
in Lima, he told me, “Broad base,
big focus.” In other words, learn
a lot. In my case, focus in cancer
immunology. However, to make
an impact in that area, I need to
have a broad understanding of
what is happening in the entire
immunology field.
As a curious young scientist,
it’s natural to want to do every-
thing, but you need to focus on
the area where you can advance
the field, even marginally. And, as
a leader, you need to strike a bal-
ance; you cannot kill innovation,
but you want to guide scientists to
their areas of strength.
Sometimes, of course, we can
be biased. As we take on more
leadership roles and become more
senior, we may become dogmatic.
Junior faculty might propose – in
our opinions – crazy ideas. If
the junior faculty is passionate,
positive, and persistent, we can
be proven wrong. As mentors, we
can’t force them to change their
passions or ignore their instincts.
I learned this early in my ca-
reer when I was fortunate enough
to work in the laboratory of
Diana M. Lopez, PhD, a profes-
sor of microbiology and immu-
nology at the University of Miami
in Florida. This was during the
late 1980s, when she was one of
only a handful of investigators
who were working in the areas of
immunology, immunotherapy,
June 2017