Pulling Back the Curtain
Benjamin Ebert, MD, PhD
We can learn much more from the innovators and mentors in hematology and
oncology than clinical expertise. In Pulling Back the Curtain, we speak with
hematology/oncology professionals about how they approach their leadership
positions and what advice they would give those just getting started in the field.
Benjamin Ebert, MD, PhD, from Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard
Medical School, spoke with ASH Clinical News about the importance of great
mentors and juggling work and life outside of medicine.
Benjamin Ebert, MD, PhD,
with his family.
What was your first job?
In high school, I built up a little
business for myself as a math
tutor for kids of all ages – kindergarten through high school.
This is when I first realized that
I enjoy teaching. So many of the
kids I tutored who had trouble
in math were actually just afraid
of it; my role was often just to
help them realize that it wasn’t
that hard, and they became
excited to be able to do it.
I see that still today: clinicians may think that biochemistry is difficult, geneticists may
think that clinical medicine is
impenetrable, and biochemists
may think computational approaches are unfathomable, but
all these scientists can understand the other disciplines given
time and effort.
The number of things one is asked to
do rapidly exceeds the available time, so
prioritizing and deciding what you can and
cannot agree to do is essential.
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ASH Clinical News
Is there any other career
you can see yourself in
besides medicine?
Despite a distinct lack of talent,
I always thought I’d enjoy being
an architect. The idea of creating
something with a defined set of
tools and approaches appeals to
me in the same way as scientific
research. Both have the potential
for tremendous creativity within
physical or technical constraints.
My mother is an artist and photographer, but I, unfortunately,
did not inherit her artistic talents.
My attempts at making drawings
in gross anatomy class in medical
school were indecipherable.
February 2015