Pulling Back the Curtain: Bob Löwenberg, MD, PhD
ing 90. I most admired his unabated fighting spirit until his last day
and his independent and uncompromised vision. He was ambitious
in trying to break new ground
in the field of patient-centered
research – for him, nothing was a
bridge too far.
Did you think you would
always go into medicine, or
were you interested in anything else?
I was – and am – interested in
so many things. When the deadline for declaring my studies
in university was approaching,
I was still considering different options. I decided to go for
medicine, and I have never regretted that choice, but it wasn’t
the only possible scenario for me.
If I had made a different choice,
I am certain I would have been
challenged and excited by that
job too. I believe it all depends
on what you want and what you
make out of a situation.
In a typical day, what is your
rose and what is your thorn?
Sometimes I ask myself, “What do
I enjoy most during the week?”
And the answer always has something to do with moving things
forward into new directions. I
don’t like just to take care of the
household; I prefer to be involved
in entering new scientific and research territories.
In addition, I really enjoy
working together with colleagues
to push new developments in
various initiatives and expeditions within our own Department of Hematology in Rotterdam, as well as in European and
American hematology. This is
also one of the reasons why I like
working at Blood, the flagship
publication of not only of the
American Society of Hematology, but our entire field.
As far as the worst part of the
day, I lost a son to cancer three
years ago. It turned our lives upside down and this tragedy is with
me every minute of the day. He
was a lawyer, and died at only 34
years old. It is, undoubtedly, the
“down” of every day. My wife and
I have three children – our middle
son passed awa y. Our other two
children, a son and a daughter,
are both MDs.
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ASH Clinical News
Did you expect any of your
children to follow in your
footsteps?
No, my view was always that everyone should choose what he
or she likes. This is exactly what
I myself did as well. Each of my
children, for instance, simply had
different interests. Our oldest,
who became a gastroenterologist,
enjoyed joining me at the hospital
on the weekends when I was on
call; our younger son, who became
a lawyer, did not like it. He did not
feel attracted to seeing sick patients and blood.
My son and daughter, who
now is a general practitioner, have
actually both published in Blood.
This was a coincidence – they
had both published articles in the
journal before I began my tenure
as editor-in-chief. I found out
when my secretary updated my
CV with my recent publications,
and she searched by the name
“Löwenberg,” but, when I reviewed
it, I found papers that I did not
remember writing!
My oldest son did his PhD on
an immunobiologic topic, and my
daughter did her research in hemostasis and thrombosis.
How did you and your wife
meet?
My wife is a psychiatrist. We got
to know each other when we both
were medical students and subsequently did our internships in
surgery and obstetrics and gynecology in the Caribbean together.
From there, we backpacked to
Guatemala and Mexico, then returned to Holland together.
Do you and your wife still
travel? What else do you do
in your off-time?
We do not travel as often as we did
in the past, but just before the ASH
annual meeting in Orlando, I visited the Join for Joy camp in Kenya – this is an inspiring initiative
based on the idea that sports and
play can have a significant impact
on children’s development and in
broadening their perspectives. The
program, run by the Join for Joy
charity, offers children from the
poorest rural areas in Kenya the
opportunity to break out of their
environment and enjoy themselves
through sports and play, stimulating their youthful enthusiasm and
imagination, while
also promoting
emotional and
physical skills and
education about
other aspects of life
that they might not
have been exposed
to otherwise. For
me, it was a moving experience
– not only to witness the changes
(almost overnight)
in these children,
but also because
the charity was
founded by our
son Michiel five
years ago.
Occasionally, travel is also a
part of keeping memories and history alive. One year ago I went back
to Jever, a little city in northern
Germany, where my mother was
born and where my grandparents
ran a small business before World
War II. The town placed a memorial for the Jewish citizens of Jever at
the site where the local synagogue
had been set fire to on Kristallnacht
in 1938. The memorial was named
for my grandfather, who was the
last chairman of the synagogue, and
descendants of those former Jewish
citizens gathered in Jever from all
over the world to attend the ceremony. When you are younger, you
don’t make time for that; I am at
the age now where this has become
more important. Without honoring
those memories, all of that history
would be lost.
When I am not working, I
enjoy being with family. We have
four grandchildren, all between
two and four years old, and I enjoy
them enormously. Watching them
grow up with your own children as
parents is very special.
How does it feel to be editor
of Blood during its milestone 70th anniversary?
Blood has been a crucial and loyal
partner for successive generations
of hematologists. The Journal has
faithfully reported the profound
changes in clinical practice and biologic concepts that have revolutionized hematology during the last 70
years, and my goal – and the goal
of our terrific team of colleagueeditors and dedicated staff – is to
continue to keep the needs of our
current readership in
mind. It is an honor to
be the guardian of the
Journal during this
anniversary, and to
be trusted to uphold
the standards that
our predecessors have
established.
What questions
do you ask when
you are interviewing someone
for a position?
In an interview, I always want a clear answer to the questions,
“What do you really
want to do in your future?
What are your real interests? What drives you?”
The answers to those questions should guide them in
their decisions.
(top) Visiting a camp for underprivileged
children in Kenya (November 2015), founded by
Dr. Löwenberg’s son, Michiel.
(above) Dr. Löwenberg as a medical student
tracking through Mexico with his then-girlfriend
and future wife.
What advice would you pass
on to early-career hematologists/oncologists?
Be realistic with yourself in your
career objectives. Don’t force yourself into a particular direction; ask
yourself what you like to do, what
you are good at, and – first of all
– follow your heart. At least, that’s
what I have tried to do.
It’s important to enjoy your
career, but it is also important to
understand what your strengths
and weaknesses are. When you
are younger, you have to make
difficult choices, but once you
make that choice, don’t look
back. Just go for it. ●
January 2016