6 min
The Forest Ranger in a White Coat | Conquer Cancer, the ASCO Foundation Your Stories: Conquering Cancer
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- Relationships
Stuart Spigel wanted to be a forest ranger. His mother…well, she had other plans.
Dr. Stuart Spigel would become Nashville’s first oncologist. Though not the rustic wilderness he’d dreamed of exploring, cancer in the 1970’s was an uncharted field.
In a conversation with son and fellow oncologist, David Spigel, you’ll hear candid insight into the ever-changing landscape of cancer care and how becoming a patient himself forever changed Stuart’s relationship with those he treated.
Stuart Spigel wanted to be a forest ranger. His mother, well, she had other plans. Dr. Stuart Spigel would become Nashville's first oncologist. Though not the rustic wilderness he'd dreamed of exploring, cancer in the 1970s was an uncharted field.
In a conversation with son and fellow oncologist David Spigel, you'll hear candid insight into the ever-changing landscape of cancer care, and how becoming a patient himself forever changed Stuart's relationship with those he treated.
In my senior year of high school, my mother had me tested in New York City, and I did three days of testing.
To see what you would be in life?
Yes. I wanted to be a forest ranger, the only Jewish forest ranger.
But at the end of the three days, there was a counseling session. And the counselor said, ma'am, your son is cut out to be a social worker or a forest ranger. And my mother grabbed my wrist and said, my son is going to be a doctor. And that's why I became a doctor, to be honest with you.
I knew I wanted internal medicine. And with each of the rotations, I was disappointed. Then I rotated in oncology. Wow, oncology. I had two exciting teachers, and they were doing exciting things. It had just been shown that Hodgkin's disease could be treated successfully and perhaps cured with chemotherapy. And that was really exciting for me.
It's interesting, because I'm an oncologist, and to me, right now feels like the most exciting time in the history of medicine, not just oncology, with the things we can do, the discoveries being made, the pace of development. And I look back to even just 20 years ago, and I think, boy, there really wasn't a lot to do there. And so you're talking about 1969, 1970, you felt like then you were doing a lot of great things or things were happening, and it was exciting as well.
In 1969, we began to treat women with widespread breast cancer, and we sought to publish our experience with 25 such patients. And we submitted that article to the Journal of the American Medical Association, the New England Journal of Medicine, the Annals of Internal Medicine.
Did you author that? You were the first author?
Yes, I was the lead author, and it was rejected by everyone. The editorial comment from the Journal of the American Medical Association was, our readership is not interested in cancer. We don't believe cancer is a treatable disease. Now you pick up any medical journal, and at least 50% is devoted to oncology. It's incredible.
So I want to fast-forward to Nashville.
Believe it or not, there was no medical oncology at the time in Nashville, and I became the first trained medical oncologist in Nashville, Tennessee.
And I remember as a child, your day didn't stop. You were the only one going to the hospital. I just don't know how you did it.
I don't either. I wasn't getting home until late. And so finally, in 1979, I started my own practice.
So that same practice today is now 89 physicians, one of the largest in the United States. That was the group you started.
Yes.
That feel weird?
Yes.
Did you enjoy it? Or the joy--
No.
Oh, you didn't.
It was joyless. I mean, I worked from dawn to late at night, and my marriage dissolved. And in large part, it was because of my work.
When did things change for you, where being a doctor became gratifying?
When I hired help, and we began to have the time to enjoy life a little bit.
It is gratifying for me now, walking in the same hall as y
Stuart Spigel wanted to be a forest ranger. His mother…well, she had other plans.
Dr. Stuart Spigel would become Nashville’s first oncologist. Though not the rustic wilderness he’d dreamed of exploring, cancer in the 1970’s was an uncharted field.
In a conversation with son and fellow oncologist, David Spigel, you’ll hear candid insight into the ever-changing landscape of cancer care and how becoming a patient himself forever changed Stuart’s relationship with those he treated.
Stuart Spigel wanted to be a forest ranger. His mother, well, she had other plans. Dr. Stuart Spigel would become Nashville's first oncologist. Though not the rustic wilderness he'd dreamed of exploring, cancer in the 1970s was an uncharted field.
In a conversation with son and fellow oncologist David Spigel, you'll hear candid insight into the ever-changing landscape of cancer care, and how becoming a patient himself forever changed Stuart's relationship with those he treated.
In my senior year of high school, my mother had me tested in New York City, and I did three days of testing.
To see what you would be in life?
Yes. I wanted to be a forest ranger, the only Jewish forest ranger.
But at the end of the three days, there was a counseling session. And the counselor said, ma'am, your son is cut out to be a social worker or a forest ranger. And my mother grabbed my wrist and said, my son is going to be a doctor. And that's why I became a doctor, to be honest with you.
I knew I wanted internal medicine. And with each of the rotations, I was disappointed. Then I rotated in oncology. Wow, oncology. I had two exciting teachers, and they were doing exciting things. It had just been shown that Hodgkin's disease could be treated successfully and perhaps cured with chemotherapy. And that was really exciting for me.
It's interesting, because I'm an oncologist, and to me, right now feels like the most exciting time in the history of medicine, not just oncology, with the things we can do, the discoveries being made, the pace of development. And I look back to even just 20 years ago, and I think, boy, there really wasn't a lot to do there. And so you're talking about 1969, 1970, you felt like then you were doing a lot of great things or things were happening, and it was exciting as well.
In 1969, we began to treat women with widespread breast cancer, and we sought to publish our experience with 25 such patients. And we submitted that article to the Journal of the American Medical Association, the New England Journal of Medicine, the Annals of Internal Medicine.
Did you author that? You were the first author?
Yes, I was the lead author, and it was rejected by everyone. The editorial comment from the Journal of the American Medical Association was, our readership is not interested in cancer. We don't believe cancer is a treatable disease. Now you pick up any medical journal, and at least 50% is devoted to oncology. It's incredible.
So I want to fast-forward to Nashville.
Believe it or not, there was no medical oncology at the time in Nashville, and I became the first trained medical oncologist in Nashville, Tennessee.
And I remember as a child, your day didn't stop. You were the only one going to the hospital. I just don't know how you did it.
I don't either. I wasn't getting home until late. And so finally, in 1979, I started my own practice.
So that same practice today is now 89 physicians, one of the largest in the United States. That was the group you started.
Yes.
That feel weird?
Yes.
Did you enjoy it? Or the joy--
No.
Oh, you didn't.
It was joyless. I mean, I worked from dawn to late at night, and my marriage dissolved. And in large part, it was because of my work.
When did things change for you, where being a doctor became gratifying?
When I hired help, and we began to have the time to enjoy life a little bit.
It is gratifying for me now, walking in the same hall as y
6 min