Pulling Back the Curtain
Gerald A. Soff, MD
In this edition, Gerald A. Soff, MD, shares his experiences as a hematologist and a
hematologic patient, and he discusses how his myeloma diagnosis has – and hasn’t
– changed his life. Dr. Soff is chief of the hematology service at Memorial Sloan
Kettering Cancer Center in New York.
that program, we were encour-
aged to look for a research proj-
ect. I was a naïve 19-year-old
with no knowledge of medicine,
anatomy, or physiology, but I
had that research experience
from working at Union Carbide.
I was also moonlighting as a
blood-bank technician. So I
figured, “Blood is easy; you don’t
need to know anatomy.”
The first potential mentor I
reached out to, a pediatric leuke-
mia specialist, quickly realized I
hadn’t thought through the mul-
tiple areas within hematology –
and that he had better things to
do than mentor me. He referred
me to Jack Levin, MD, a coagu-
lation specialist who had a track
record of working with students.
Having learned my lesson, when
Dr. Levin asked me what aspect
of hematology I was interest
in, I said, “Blood clotting,” and
he said, “Oh, great – that’s my
area!” He took me under his
wing, and we’ve enjoyed a 40-
year friendship ever since. I give
him all the credit for making me
not just a hematologist, but a
coagulation expert.
Dr. Soff in the clinic, two years after his myeloma diagnosis.
When did you know you
wanted to become