Lifetime Achievement Award: Dr. Lewis Wexler

Born in Brooklyn, New York, Dr. Wexler attended Queens College of New York for two years before transferring to the University of Chicago. As a third-year undergraduate, he went to see his pre-medical admissions counselor, who encouraged him to apply for medical school that day because it was the last day to register for the MCATs. At the age of seventeen and a half he was accepted at Syracuse.

Although Dr. Wexler had planned to stay in California for only one year to complete his internship in 1960 at Mount Zion Hospital and Medical Center in San Francisco, he and his wife fell in love with California and have been here ever since. Dr. Wexler was drawn to Radiology because it involved solving puzzles: "I enjoyed my patients, but I had trouble letting go. I'd come home and worry about my patients--particularly, who was taking care of them in my absence. Radiology attracted me because you can solve a diagnostic dilemma but someone else has responsibility to care for the patient."

However, Dr. Wexler has enjoyed the direct contact he has had with his patients as an interventional radiologist for thirty-two years at Stanford and as a physician at Menlo Medical Clinic, where he currently works part-time. "I see as many of my patients as I can at Menlo Medical," he told me. "In the future, direct patient contact in Radiology will increase because I think that preventative medicine will be an emerging subspecialty with whole body scans at low dosage, which will require radiologists to consult with their patients about their results. Direct contact with patients should begin in residency; every radiology resident should have as much patient contact as possible."

Dr. Wexler was in the first purely diagnostic radiology residency program in the U.S. In 1961, when Dr. Wexler was a resident at Stanford, there was no ultrasound, mammography, CT, or MR, and angiography was just beginning. Stanford Radiology had just moved to Palo Alto from San Francisco in 1959. There were only three residents per class, and five faculty members in the Division of Diagnostic Radiology: Drs. Henry Jones, Herb Abrams, Robert Evans, Leslie Zatz, and Steven Ross.

As a resident, he was mentored by Herb Abrams, MD, who inspired him to pursue cardiovascular imaging as a resident. Studying under Dr. Eric Boijsen, Dr. Abrams taught catheter angiography during a time when the field was just beginning. He was one of the first radiologists to develop a percutaneous transfemoral pre-shaped catheter approach to coronary arteriography. "In those days, we had to mold, shape, and sterilize each catheter before we used them," Dr. Wexler remarked. As the beneficiary of this cutting-edge knowledge, he spent one and one-half years training in angiography during his three-year residency program, including a U.S. Public Health Services sponsored fellowship in cardiovascular radiology completed in 1964.

After his fellowship, Dr. Wexler served as a radiologist in the U.S. Air Force in Ankara, Turkey, for two years. Upon completing his service, Dr. Wexler was awarded a James Picker Foundation Advanced Fellowship in cardiovascular physiology at the Royal Postgraduate Medical School in London, England, during the academic year 1966-67.

In 1967, he returned to Stanford Radiology as an assistant professor, where he served as chief of the nascent cardiovascular radiology section for 24 years and for 15 years as the co-director of the catheterization and angiographic laboratories at Stanford University Hospital. As a professor of radiology, his research centered on cardiac and vascular imaging, the imaging of aortic dissections, and the effects of contrast media on cardiovascular and renal function. He trained numerous radiologists and cardiologists in coronary angiography before most others were doing it. However, due to turf wars, cardiologists are the only ones trained in this procedure today.

Dr. Wexler has published over 200 manuscripts, book chapters, and abstracts on vascular imaging and interventions. He won numerous awards and was elected as chair or president of multiple professional radiology and cardiology organizations focused on cardiovascular imaging and interventional radiology. However, Dr. Wexler's greatest achievement lies in teaching cardiac catheterization to cardiologists and radiologists: "I taught radiology fellows under an NIH-sponsored training grant for 20 years." By the time he retired in 1999 as professor emeritus of radiology, Dr. Wexler had taught close to 200 radiology and cardiology residents and fellows from all over the world. Many of his students have become leaders in the fields of cardiology and interventional radiology.

During his sabbatical year in 1982-83, Dr. Wexler was a Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellow, working in the U.S. Congressional offices of Representative James R. Jones of Oklahoma and then Senator Dan Quayle. In Washington, he met a wide array of the politicians, staff, and lobbyists involved in healthcare issues. This experience inspired him to successfully apply for several grants in health services research.

Among his most enduring contributions has been his service to the University and the community. At Stanford, he served on both the Medical School and University Faculty Senates and chaired the Committee on Land and Buildings. He was chief of staff of Stanford University Hospital and directed the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) survey of the medical school in 1996. Dr. Wexler currently serves as a member of the Stanford Medical School Admissions Committee and the University's Judicial Panel.

In addition to his committee work, Dr. Wexler, along with his wife, enjoys the cultural aspects the Bay Area offers, including ballet and opera. They are both dedicated to life-long learning: "Recently, my wife and I received an award from the Stanford Continuing Studies Program for the couple who has taken the most continuing studies courses." This March, they traveled to Italy to see the sites from one of their continuing studies courses on Christianity and Judaism in ancient Rome.