Pulling Back the Curtain
Wendy Stock, MD
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.
Wendy Stock, MD, a professor of medicine in hematology/oncology and director of the Leukemia Program at the University of Chicago,
spoke with ASH Clinical News about dream jobs, kindred spirits, and her
nontraditional path to medicine.
It was a great learning experience, too. First, I learned that I
really wanted a college education
because I didn’t want to work
in the Dairy Queen for the rest
of my life! The best part of the
job, though, was the camaraderie and laughs working through
those many hot, difficult hours.
I have had my share of clockwatching jobs, but they did all
have some entertaining aspect to
them. That’s where I learned how
much I loved working with other
people.
Wendy Stock,
MD, with her
family.
10
ASH Clinical News
What was your first job?
My first job was working at a
Dairy Queen. I worked there the
summer before I turned 16 and,
actually, for four summers after
that. My classmate’s father owned
one of the old-fashioned Dairy
Queens with a walk-up window
and no air conditioner. I got paid
$1.00 an hour, which was cheap
even back then!
I worked really hard those
summers, but it was a wonderful job, and I have so many fond
memories. My big challenge
every night was to try to ride my
bike with no hands the mile and a
half to and from the Dairy Queen
– and, very often, I did it, zipping
back home without ever touching
the handlebars.
“My biggest hope for my
career was to be challenged
and to do something
meaningful; I have definitely
fulfilled those criteria.”
I can still make perfect little
curlicues on the tips of ice cream
cones and delicious banana splits,
but, to this day, I can’t eat a banana.
Funnily enough, years later,
when I was an intern and on
my feet for practically 36 hours,
my legs used to ache so badly at
night. I thought, I have had this
feeling before; I remember this.
Then suddenly, it hit me: It was
the same ache from standing in
that tiny, cramped Dairy Queen
booth for eight to 10 hours at a
time.
Did you always know you
wanted to go into medicine?
No, definitely not. Honestly, I
never even liked going to the
doctor; I would cry every time.
The one thing I knew for
certain was that I did not want
a repetitive, boring job. My biggest hope for my career was to be
challenged and to do something
meaningful; I have definitely fulfilled those criteria.
Growing up, I wanted to be a
biologist. I had this vision of myself as Jacques Cousteau or Jane
Goodall – a naturalist or a photojournalist. My dream job was being a photojournalist for National
Geographic. I had to eventually
rule out photojournalist, though,
when I learned that – thanks to
my time in the marine biology
lab at University of California
during graduate school – I get
very seasick.
It wasn’t until after graduate
school with a degree in Zoology
that I even started thinking about
medical school – largely based
on a suggestion from my graduate advisor. My younger brother,
who was in medical school at the
time, also seemed to be having a
great time.
From there, my interests
started evolving – from animal
behavior to the cellular biol-
July 2015