Wallace Rubin, M.D.
In 1966 I wrote a thesis to become an Associate Professor in Otolaryngology at my Medical School and wrote a paper reporting the most important findings. This was published in The Laryngoscope*. Soon after the publication, I received a letter from Dr. Wallace Rubin, congratulating me for the paper. I had heard of him and had read many of his papers, but we had never met. I was happy to receive a compliment, at the beginning of my career, from a well known physician with whom I had had no personal contact.
In 1971 he was invited to a Congress in Brazil. We were together several times during the meeting, some of them with our wives. We became good friends. My wife and I used to stay in his home when we traveled to New Orleans and Elsie and Wally stayed in our home when they came to São Paulo. In 1976 he asked New Orleans Mayor to make me an Honorary Citizen of the city; this certificate is proudly hanging from one of the walls of my office.
When we went to New York they would fly to be there with us. Their friends Marcia and Kenneth Brookler also became our dear friends.
Wally had been a resident (and also a good friend) of Dr. George Shambaugh Junior, and started his career as an otolaryngologist. After a few years he stopped doing surgery and dedicated himself entirely to clinical Neurotology. His working hours were remarkable: he would leave his house at 4:30 AM, worked on his correspondence from 5:00 AM to 6:00 AM and started seeing patients as 6:00 AM. I remember asking him, “how can you get patients to arrive at your office at 6:00 AM?” He told me they liked it, their day schedule remained unaltered. And he worked till 5:00 PM, sometimes 6:00 PM, always eating lunch in his office. He did not sleep much, usually 4 hours each night. Elsie helped him at the office, but she usually got there about 10:00 AM.
Wally and Ken Brookler wrote a very good book on Neurotology **, stressing the need to take into account the different causes of labyrinthine diseases. They helped to set a trend that gradually involved most of the world’s neurotologists.
Our common friend Claus Claussen, in 1990, organized a one day pre-congress Symposium to honor me and I had the privilege of being saluted by Wallace Rubin.
He was in New Orleans when the hurricane Katrina devastated the town. He felt that his house was in a safe place, far from the sea coast, so he did not leave. But the hurricane destroyed the floodgates of Lake Pontchartrain, and the waters surrounded his house. We had no news from him, there was no electricity, no telephones. Ken Brookler and I talked on the telephone everyday during these days, but neither Ken nor Wally’s daughter Connie knew what had happened to Elsie and Wally. About ten days after the storm Wally was able to call Ken and tell him that a boat had come to rescue them and the families in the nearby houses.
Wally is retired now, but his contributions to Neurotology have been many. As a Professor at Louisiana State University he succeeded in stimulating many students in the areas of otology, neurotology and allergy, that were his main areas of interest. As a clinician he examined his patients very thoroughly, including sophisticated laboratory tests and images whenever they became necessary. He experimented with new medications and rehabilitation techniques and his clinical results were excellent.
I admire him for his knowledge. But the most important thing, to me, is that he is an outstanding man and a great friend.
* Mangabeira-Albernaz P L: Vestibular Hyperreflexia and Fast Habituation. 1966; Laryngoscope 76: 1493-501.
** Rubin W, Brookler KH. Diziness: Etiologic Approach to Management. 1991, Thieme, New York.
In 1971 he was invited to a Congress in Brazil. We were together several times during the meeting, some of them with our wives. We became good friends. My wife and I used to stay in his home when we traveled to New Orleans and Elsie and Wally stayed in our home when they came to São Paulo. In 1976 he asked New Orleans Mayor to make me an Honorary Citizen of the city; this certificate is proudly hanging from one of the walls of my office.
When we went to New York they would fly to be there with us. Their friends Marcia and Kenneth Brookler also became our dear friends.
Wally had been a resident (and also a good friend) of Dr. George Shambaugh Junior, and started his career as an otolaryngologist. After a few years he stopped doing surgery and dedicated himself entirely to clinical Neurotology. His working hours were remarkable: he would leave his house at 4:30 AM, worked on his correspondence from 5:00 AM to 6:00 AM and started seeing patients as 6:00 AM. I remember asking him, “how can you get patients to arrive at your office at 6:00 AM?” He told me they liked it, their day schedule remained unaltered. And he worked till 5:00 PM, sometimes 6:00 PM, always eating lunch in his office. He did not sleep much, usually 4 hours each night. Elsie helped him at the office, but she usually got there about 10:00 AM.
Wally and Ken Brookler wrote a very good book on Neurotology **, stressing the need to take into account the different causes of labyrinthine diseases. They helped to set a trend that gradually involved most of the world’s neurotologists.
Claus Claussen, Wallace Rubin and I
Our common friend Claus Claussen, in 1990, organized a one day pre-congress Symposium to honor me and I had the privilege of being saluted by Wallace Rubin.
He was in New Orleans when the hurricane Katrina devastated the town. He felt that his house was in a safe place, far from the sea coast, so he did not leave. But the hurricane destroyed the floodgates of Lake Pontchartrain, and the waters surrounded his house. We had no news from him, there was no electricity, no telephones. Ken Brookler and I talked on the telephone everyday during these days, but neither Ken nor Wally’s daughter Connie knew what had happened to Elsie and Wally. About ten days after the storm Wally was able to call Ken and tell him that a boat had come to rescue them and the families in the nearby houses.
Wally is retired now, but his contributions to Neurotology have been many. As a Professor at Louisiana State University he succeeded in stimulating many students in the areas of otology, neurotology and allergy, that were his main areas of interest. As a clinician he examined his patients very thoroughly, including sophisticated laboratory tests and images whenever they became necessary. He experimented with new medications and rehabilitation techniques and his clinical results were excellent.
I admire him for his knowledge. But the most important thing, to me, is that he is an outstanding man and a great friend.
* Mangabeira-Albernaz P L: Vestibular Hyperreflexia and Fast Habituation. 1966; Laryngoscope 76: 1493-501.
** Rubin W, Brookler KH. Diziness: Etiologic Approach to Management. 1991, Thieme, New York.
Comments
Post a Comment