SPOTLIGHT on Walter B. Shelley M.D., Ph.D.
Dr. Shelley is Professor Emeritus of Dermatology at the Medical University of Ohio. He has been a prolific author of countless journal articles and dermatology books, including Advanced Dermatologic Diagnosis & Advanced Dermatologic Therapy, and Classics in Clinical Dermatology with Biographical Sketches, 50th Anniversary. In 1972, he was president of the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD), and in 1992 he received the Gold Medal from the AAD for his vast contributions to dermatology.
Q. What part of your work gives you the most pleasure?
A. My joy is in problem solving. My cup of happiness overflows when I can help a patient who has been told by other doctors that nothing more can be done.
I spend my days searching for a novel therapy. I scan the British Journal of Dermatology and The Lancet, and I go to meetings looking for help for my challenging patient. I try off-label uses, and I will even change my diagnosis to enhance my therapeutic vision. I spend my spare free time thinking about my patients.
I don’t play chess or bridge. I don’t do crossword puzzles or exercise with Mensa. My patients give me all the brain teasing I want.
I love to instill hope for this in what I’ve dubbed my “Shelley Helper T-cell” in treatment. I prescribe with confidence boldly, not timidly. I enjoy seeing a patient leave my office as he is lifted on the wings of hope, not weighed down by needless warnings and pessimistic predictions. And I love giving samples. They are essential to patient-physician bonding. They are my totems of caring and curing.
Q. What is the best advice you have received and from whom?
A. Some of the best advice I’ve received over the years is from the following people:
My Mother. She would always say, “Don’t ever smoke, Walter. Each cigarette is a nail in your coffin.”
My Father: “Finish what you start. Half done is worse than never begun.”
My high school teacher, Brother Leo: “A book is worth reading if it will give you one great new thought.”
My colleague, Francis Wood, Professor of Medicine: “You are never in trouble if you know what to do next.” (E.g. finish this column.)
My patient, Ambassador Walter Annenberg: “Harassment is just around the corner.”
Q. Outside of work, what are you most passionate about in life?
A. Books. My wife Dorinda and I have 30,000 books in our home. They cascade down the stairs from our 55-foot attic library, along the hall to the bedroom shelves.
They pool on the floors and empty into two rooms dedicated to poetry only. They are at flood level in the children’s rooms and the guest room, spilling into the bathroom. Some sit impatiently on the stairs.
Throughout the main floor, knee-high piles of books stand, denied shelf space by the original settlers. Thousands more have found refuge in our five-room basement.
The river of books flows out to our red barn. There in the hayloft snuggle 5,000 children’s books and countless sports books. Below where cows were once milked, we have built a 30x40-foot library for our science books. Oh yes, and our pool house is afloat with travel books.
Everywhere are books to treasure, coddle and re-arrange. We have the incomparable joy of possession. Do we read them? No. We don’t have the time. Books are our jewels. We wear them, not read them. I never met a book I didn’t like.
SPOTLIGHT on Walter B. Shelley M.D., Ph.D.
Dr. Shelley is Professor Emeritus of Dermatology at the Medical University of Ohio. He has been a prolific author of countless journal articles and dermatology books, including Advanced Dermatologic Diagnosis & Advanced Dermatologic Therapy, and Classics in Clinical Dermatology with Biographical Sketches, 50th Anniversary. In 1972, he was president of the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD), and in 1992 he received the Gold Medal from the AAD for his vast contributions to dermatology.
Q. What part of your work gives you the most pleasure?
A. My joy is in problem solving. My cup of happiness overflows when I can help a patient who has been told by other doctors that nothing more can be done.
I spend my days searching for a novel therapy. I scan the British Journal of Dermatology and The Lancet, and I go to meetings looking for help for my challenging patient. I try off-label uses, and I will even change my diagnosis to enhance my therapeutic vision. I spend my spare free time thinking about my patients.
I don’t play chess or bridge. I don’t do crossword puzzles or exercise with Mensa. My patients give me all the brain teasing I want.
I love to instill hope for this in what I’ve dubbed my “Shelley Helper T-cell” in treatment. I prescribe with confidence boldly, not timidly. I enjoy seeing a patient leave my office as he is lifted on the wings of hope, not weighed down by needless warnings and pessimistic predictions. And I love giving samples. They are essential to patient-physician bonding. They are my totems of caring and curing.
Q. What is the best advice you have received and from whom?
A. Some of the best advice I’ve received over the years is from the following people:
My Mother. She would always say, “Don’t ever smoke, Walter. Each cigarette is a nail in your coffin.”
My Father: “Finish what you start. Half done is worse than never begun.”
My high school teacher, Brother Leo: “A book is worth reading if it will give you one great new thought.”
My colleague, Francis Wood, Professor of Medicine: “You are never in trouble if you know what to do next.” (E.g. finish this column.)
My patient, Ambassador Walter Annenberg: “Harassment is just around the corner.”
Q. Outside of work, what are you most passionate about in life?
A. Books. My wife Dorinda and I have 30,000 books in our home. They cascade down the stairs from our 55-foot attic library, along the hall to the bedroom shelves.
They pool on the floors and empty into two rooms dedicated to poetry only. They are at flood level in the children’s rooms and the guest room, spilling into the bathroom. Some sit impatiently on the stairs.
Throughout the main floor, knee-high piles of books stand, denied shelf space by the original settlers. Thousands more have found refuge in our five-room basement.
The river of books flows out to our red barn. There in the hayloft snuggle 5,000 children’s books and countless sports books. Below where cows were once milked, we have built a 30x40-foot library for our science books. Oh yes, and our pool house is afloat with travel books.
Everywhere are books to treasure, coddle and re-arrange. We have the incomparable joy of possession. Do we read them? No. We don’t have the time. Books are our jewels. We wear them, not read them. I never met a book I didn’t like.
SPOTLIGHT on Walter B. Shelley M.D., Ph.D.
Dr. Shelley is Professor Emeritus of Dermatology at the Medical University of Ohio. He has been a prolific author of countless journal articles and dermatology books, including Advanced Dermatologic Diagnosis & Advanced Dermatologic Therapy, and Classics in Clinical Dermatology with Biographical Sketches, 50th Anniversary. In 1972, he was president of the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD), and in 1992 he received the Gold Medal from the AAD for his vast contributions to dermatology.
Q. What part of your work gives you the most pleasure?
A. My joy is in problem solving. My cup of happiness overflows when I can help a patient who has been told by other doctors that nothing more can be done.
I spend my days searching for a novel therapy. I scan the British Journal of Dermatology and The Lancet, and I go to meetings looking for help for my challenging patient. I try off-label uses, and I will even change my diagnosis to enhance my therapeutic vision. I spend my spare free time thinking about my patients.
I don’t play chess or bridge. I don’t do crossword puzzles or exercise with Mensa. My patients give me all the brain teasing I want.
I love to instill hope for this in what I’ve dubbed my “Shelley Helper T-cell” in treatment. I prescribe with confidence boldly, not timidly. I enjoy seeing a patient leave my office as he is lifted on the wings of hope, not weighed down by needless warnings and pessimistic predictions. And I love giving samples. They are essential to patient-physician bonding. They are my totems of caring and curing.
Q. What is the best advice you have received and from whom?
A. Some of the best advice I’ve received over the years is from the following people:
My Mother. She would always say, “Don’t ever smoke, Walter. Each cigarette is a nail in your coffin.”
My Father: “Finish what you start. Half done is worse than never begun.”
My high school teacher, Brother Leo: “A book is worth reading if it will give you one great new thought.”
My colleague, Francis Wood, Professor of Medicine: “You are never in trouble if you know what to do next.” (E.g. finish this column.)
My patient, Ambassador Walter Annenberg: “Harassment is just around the corner.”
Q. Outside of work, what are you most passionate about in life?
A. Books. My wife Dorinda and I have 30,000 books in our home. They cascade down the stairs from our 55-foot attic library, along the hall to the bedroom shelves.
They pool on the floors and empty into two rooms dedicated to poetry only. They are at flood level in the children’s rooms and the guest room, spilling into the bathroom. Some sit impatiently on the stairs.
Throughout the main floor, knee-high piles of books stand, denied shelf space by the original settlers. Thousands more have found refuge in our five-room basement.
The river of books flows out to our red barn. There in the hayloft snuggle 5,000 children’s books and countless sports books. Below where cows were once milked, we have built a 30x40-foot library for our science books. Oh yes, and our pool house is afloat with travel books.
Everywhere are books to treasure, coddle and re-arrange. We have the incomparable joy of possession. Do we read them? No. We don’t have the time. Books are our jewels. We wear them, not read them. I never met a book I didn’t like.
