Dr. Haserick has been President of the American Academy of Dermatology (1974), Founder & President of the American Society of Dermatopathology (1975), and President of the American Board of Dermatology (1975).
He was head of the Department of Dermatology at the Cleveland Clinic (1948 to 1967); in private practice in North Carolina from 1970 to 1987; and held several positions as Clinical Professor for institutions such as at Case Western Reserve University (1967 to 1970), Duke University (1970 to 1985), and the University of Minnesota since 1997. He authored the LE Primer (1972) and The Wolves Club (2002), in addition to more than 75 published medical articles.
Possibly his greatest contribution to medicine is his discovery of the lupus erythematosus (LE) factor that induced the LE cell. This led to the autoimmune concept of disease because it was the lupus gamma globulin that induced phagocytes to engulf nucleoprotein, hence a sort of self-destruction, which led to the term, “auto-immune”. In 1999, he received the Discovery Award by the Dermatology Foundation.
Sadly, Dr. Haserick recently passed away, but we wanted to publish this timely interview with him, which was completed shortly before his death, as a tribute to this great practitioner.
Q. What are you most proud of personally and professionally?
A. Personally, nothing in particular. I have always liked people and still do. There is always something to admire in everyone. And, there is always someone who can do what I can do, only better — whether it’s playing golf, tennis, or bridge, or practicing dermatology.
Professionally, nothing beats the results one gets from treating dermatology patients. At one time we were jeered for our poor results. One anecdote comes to mind:
At a cocktail party in Cleveland, my wife was approached by a man who used that old bromide: “Your husband’s a dermatologist, eh? That’s the ideal specialty. No night work and his patients never die and never get well.” At that time, I had just lost three patients during a 6-week period. My wife had heard too many people make this complaint about dermatologists, and she had heard it enough.
Back to the man, she quipped, “That’s not true, my husband’s patients die all the time!”
Q. What part of your work gives you the most pleasure?
A. The truly excellent results, the contact with patients, and, last but not least, the stimulation of working with residents, helping them get started, etc.
After all these years, I still remain in close contact with a large number of patients and a high percentage of the residents. I feel as if I’ve received a great deal more than I have given.
Q. Which patient has had the most affect on your work, and why?
A. A 16-year-old girl with lupus who was from Jamaica. She had lupus nephritis and responded to nitrogen mustard therapy. She returned to the Cleveland Clinic 5 years later for a re-evaluation of her lupus.
She wanted to get married and wanted to be sure she was “cured”. All studies were normal, including the renal studies, except we refrained from repeating the kidney biopsy. However, she insisted we do that, too. We violated one of the oldest principles of surgery, “Never operate on a well patient.” We repeated the renal biopsy. Only this time, she developed a severe infection, and the kidney had to be removed. (It was normal, incidentally.) She gradually recovered, married another man, is living and well in Jamaica, and has a fine family. We are in communication annually.
Q. If you had not become a dermatologist, what would you have done instead?
A. Practice internal medicine. I’m a lousy businessman. In the non-medical fields, I would have liked engineering — it blows my mind to think of the wonderful things the collective human engineering mind has accomplished. But medicine has done its share — I wish I could live another 50 years to see the cure of cancer, which is bound to come. During the 50-plus years of my medical practice, I have seen one marvelous contribution after another, with dermatology often leading the field.
Q. What do you think is the greatest political danger to the field of dermatology?
A. Some people have questioned the continued existence of our specialty. I always liked Dr. Henry Michelson’s response when some resident was sure dermatology was dying on the vine. He said, “Don’t forget we have one thing they can never take away from us, we have knowledge.”
Dr. Haserick has been President of the American Academy of Dermatology (1974), Founder & President of the American Society of Dermatopathology (1975), and President of the American Board of Dermatology (1975).
He was head of the Department of Dermatology at the Cleveland Clinic (1948 to 1967); in private practice in North Carolina from 1970 to 1987; and held several positions as Clinical Professor for institutions such as at Case Western Reserve University (1967 to 1970), Duke University (1970 to 1985), and the University of Minnesota since 1997. He authored the LE Primer (1972) and The Wolves Club (2002), in addition to more than 75 published medical articles.
Possibly his greatest contribution to medicine is his discovery of the lupus erythematosus (LE) factor that induced the LE cell. This led to the autoimmune concept of disease because it was the lupus gamma globulin that induced phagocytes to engulf nucleoprotein, hence a sort of self-destruction, which led to the term, “auto-immune”. In 1999, he received the Discovery Award by the Dermatology Foundation.
Sadly, Dr. Haserick recently passed away, but we wanted to publish this timely interview with him, which was completed shortly before his death, as a tribute to this great practitioner.
Q. What are you most proud of personally and professionally?
A. Personally, nothing in particular. I have always liked people and still do. There is always something to admire in everyone. And, there is always someone who can do what I can do, only better — whether it’s playing golf, tennis, or bridge, or practicing dermatology.
Professionally, nothing beats the results one gets from treating dermatology patients. At one time we were jeered for our poor results. One anecdote comes to mind:
At a cocktail party in Cleveland, my wife was approached by a man who used that old bromide: “Your husband’s a dermatologist, eh? That’s the ideal specialty. No night work and his patients never die and never get well.” At that time, I had just lost three patients during a 6-week period. My wife had heard too many people make this complaint about dermatologists, and she had heard it enough.
Back to the man, she quipped, “That’s not true, my husband’s patients die all the time!”
Q. What part of your work gives you the most pleasure?
A. The truly excellent results, the contact with patients, and, last but not least, the stimulation of working with residents, helping them get started, etc.
After all these years, I still remain in close contact with a large number of patients and a high percentage of the residents. I feel as if I’ve received a great deal more than I have given.
Q. Which patient has had the most affect on your work, and why?
A. A 16-year-old girl with lupus who was from Jamaica. She had lupus nephritis and responded to nitrogen mustard therapy. She returned to the Cleveland Clinic 5 years later for a re-evaluation of her lupus.
She wanted to get married and wanted to be sure she was “cured”. All studies were normal, including the renal studies, except we refrained from repeating the kidney biopsy. However, she insisted we do that, too. We violated one of the oldest principles of surgery, “Never operate on a well patient.” We repeated the renal biopsy. Only this time, she developed a severe infection, and the kidney had to be removed. (It was normal, incidentally.) She gradually recovered, married another man, is living and well in Jamaica, and has a fine family. We are in communication annually.
Q. If you had not become a dermatologist, what would you have done instead?
A. Practice internal medicine. I’m a lousy businessman. In the non-medical fields, I would have liked engineering — it blows my mind to think of the wonderful things the collective human engineering mind has accomplished. But medicine has done its share — I wish I could live another 50 years to see the cure of cancer, which is bound to come. During the 50-plus years of my medical practice, I have seen one marvelous contribution after another, with dermatology often leading the field.
Q. What do you think is the greatest political danger to the field of dermatology?
A. Some people have questioned the continued existence of our specialty. I always liked Dr. Henry Michelson’s response when some resident was sure dermatology was dying on the vine. He said, “Don’t forget we have one thing they can never take away from us, we have knowledge.”
Dr. Haserick has been President of the American Academy of Dermatology (1974), Founder & President of the American Society of Dermatopathology (1975), and President of the American Board of Dermatology (1975).
He was head of the Department of Dermatology at the Cleveland Clinic (1948 to 1967); in private practice in North Carolina from 1970 to 1987; and held several positions as Clinical Professor for institutions such as at Case Western Reserve University (1967 to 1970), Duke University (1970 to 1985), and the University of Minnesota since 1997. He authored the LE Primer (1972) and The Wolves Club (2002), in addition to more than 75 published medical articles.
Possibly his greatest contribution to medicine is his discovery of the lupus erythematosus (LE) factor that induced the LE cell. This led to the autoimmune concept of disease because it was the lupus gamma globulin that induced phagocytes to engulf nucleoprotein, hence a sort of self-destruction, which led to the term, “auto-immune”. In 1999, he received the Discovery Award by the Dermatology Foundation.
Sadly, Dr. Haserick recently passed away, but we wanted to publish this timely interview with him, which was completed shortly before his death, as a tribute to this great practitioner.
Q. What are you most proud of personally and professionally?
A. Personally, nothing in particular. I have always liked people and still do. There is always something to admire in everyone. And, there is always someone who can do what I can do, only better — whether it’s playing golf, tennis, or bridge, or practicing dermatology.
Professionally, nothing beats the results one gets from treating dermatology patients. At one time we were jeered for our poor results. One anecdote comes to mind:
At a cocktail party in Cleveland, my wife was approached by a man who used that old bromide: “Your husband’s a dermatologist, eh? That’s the ideal specialty. No night work and his patients never die and never get well.” At that time, I had just lost three patients during a 6-week period. My wife had heard too many people make this complaint about dermatologists, and she had heard it enough.
Back to the man, she quipped, “That’s not true, my husband’s patients die all the time!”
Q. What part of your work gives you the most pleasure?
A. The truly excellent results, the contact with patients, and, last but not least, the stimulation of working with residents, helping them get started, etc.
After all these years, I still remain in close contact with a large number of patients and a high percentage of the residents. I feel as if I’ve received a great deal more than I have given.
Q. Which patient has had the most affect on your work, and why?
A. A 16-year-old girl with lupus who was from Jamaica. She had lupus nephritis and responded to nitrogen mustard therapy. She returned to the Cleveland Clinic 5 years later for a re-evaluation of her lupus.
She wanted to get married and wanted to be sure she was “cured”. All studies were normal, including the renal studies, except we refrained from repeating the kidney biopsy. However, she insisted we do that, too. We violated one of the oldest principles of surgery, “Never operate on a well patient.” We repeated the renal biopsy. Only this time, she developed a severe infection, and the kidney had to be removed. (It was normal, incidentally.) She gradually recovered, married another man, is living and well in Jamaica, and has a fine family. We are in communication annually.
Q. If you had not become a dermatologist, what would you have done instead?
A. Practice internal medicine. I’m a lousy businessman. In the non-medical fields, I would have liked engineering — it blows my mind to think of the wonderful things the collective human engineering mind has accomplished. But medicine has done its share — I wish I could live another 50 years to see the cure of cancer, which is bound to come. During the 50-plus years of my medical practice, I have seen one marvelous contribution after another, with dermatology often leading the field.
Q. What do you think is the greatest political danger to the field of dermatology?
A. Some people have questioned the continued existence of our specialty. I always liked Dr. Henry Michelson’s response when some resident was sure dermatology was dying on the vine. He said, “Don’t forget we have one thing they can never take away from us, we have knowledge.”
