This article was published in Cancer Immunity, a Cancer Research Institute journal that ceased publication in 2013 and is now provided online in association with Cancer Immunology Research.
It was 1980 and I was in my last year of medical school in Taiwan. Frustrated by how limited chemotherapy was at helping the terminally ill cancer patients under my care in the ward, I was fascinated by what tumor immunology might potentially offer, as there was an excitement in the air that the newly developed hybridoma technology would produce the “magic bullets” to cure cancer. This fascination brought me to the Sloan-Kettering Institute (SKI) as a Ph.D. student in the fall of 1981. Having read a review on tumor immunology by Herbert Oettgen, Lloyd Old, and Edward Boyse (1) back in Taiwan and additional papers from Dr. Old’s group, I decided to seek out Dr. Old as my Ph.D. mentor. On one sunny afternoon in December 1981, I timidly strolled into his spacious office on the top floor of the Howard Building—he was the vice president of SKI at that time—and was greeted by his secretary Charlotte outside his room. While I nervously started to explain to her why she should make an appointment for this young Asian student to see her boss, Dr. Old happened to walk out of his room, apparently on his way out. Seizing the opportunity, I briefly introduced myself to him and told him that I was interested in studying tumor immunology. Dr. Old replied with a smile, “Me, too,” and turned his head to tell Charlotte to make an appointment for me to see him. That was my first encounter with Dr. Old, who surprised me that afternoon with his kindness toward a young Taiwanese student, a great character of his that I …
Volume 12, Issue 1
