Personal

September 2006

There are few moments in life when you can take stock of your life in the presence of friends, colleagues and family.

There are not enough thanks for my colleagues, friends and family who gathered to celebrate (and to a certain extent, roast) my retirement from the University of Wisconsin.

Last week, September 21st, I was lucky enough to be surrounded by my children and grandchildren, old friends, and valued colleagues. As those of you with Scandinavian background know, we are not used to compliments and in fact we grow uncomfortable when we hear our own name praised. Listening to stories of my early career, or tales of my parenting, I can only reflect on the blessings of my life and be very, very thankful.

Happier still was a reunion of the “Wisconsin Mafia” ­ a collection of brilliant scientists with whom I’ve had the pleasure of working over the years. Ron Laessig, Merle Evenson, Ian Carlson, all now retired; Neill Carey, now of Peninsula Regional Hospital, Carl Garber, now of Quest Diagnostics; David Koch, now of Emory University; and Sharon Ehrmeyer, Don Wiebe, and Terri Darcy, still at UW. Ron, Merle, and Ian were collegues and collaborators in my early scientific work; Neill, Carl, and Dave worked with me in Clinical Chemistry and are the fellows who continue the labor of the annual “Method Validation” workshop at the AACC conference. Sharon and Terri have been especially supportive of my teaching and educational efforts. Also present were a number of Clinical Lab Scientists who were influential in putting some of my ideas and theories into practice, particularly Trish Barry and Elsa Quam at UW Hospital. Don Wiebe emcee'd the event - he's always provided humor that makes life and work enjoyable and he kept us laughing that night.

It is increasingly rare that one can work for a single institution for your entire career. But I was fortunate to find a place in the University of Wisconsin, a great public institution that took its job seriously. The UW takes care of its students, its educators, and its patients. Even under withering budget pressure from less charitable legislators, it endures in its mission. One of the reasons why Wisconsin is so great is because we give our citizens a great education. It has produced an amazing set of professionals who have made a huge impact on the practice of laboratory medicine. I am proud to be in their number.

Jack Levine, an old colleague from Bayer Diagnostics, gave a speech entitled “The Wisconsin Conundrum” in which described how he met both me and Dr. Laessig early in our careers. We all worked together on some very early and important papers, which frankly laid the foundations of how we use analytical instrumentation in the laboratory. Over the years, Jack and Ron and I managed to do pretty well for ourselves. But Jack outlasted us. He is still working at Bayer (which is now going to be Siemens) with more than 40 years under his belt.

There are more names, more colleagues, more memories than I can describe right now. The frenetic pace of life gives us few moments to stop and take stock of our lives, family, and friends. For me that night was one of those golden moments. So let me again say thank you.

Just one final note: I still find myself going into work. My office space hasn’t been reoccupied yet, so there is still a space where I can go in and tackle some issues.

You’ll hear more from me soon…

James O. Westgard, PhD, is a professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at the University of Wisconsin Medical School, Madison. He also is president of Westgard QC, Inc., (Madison, Wis.) which provides tools, technology, and training for laboratory quality management.