- Email: [email protected]
Malcolm Bagshaw
THEY WERE GIANTS
OTHA LINTON, MSJ
Malcolm Bagshaw When Malcolm Bagshaw was a medical student at Yale University, he shared a mouse laboratory with a junior radiology therapy faculty member named Henry Kaplan. That relationship emphasized Malcolm Bagshaw’s interest in cancer treatment and created a permanent friendship. Several years later, when he completed his training in radiation oncology, this friendship stimulated him to apply for a radiation faculty position at Stanford University, where Dr Kaplan was then chief of the department of radiology. He was accepted and spent his entire career at Stanford, rising to department chairman and gaining a world reputation in radiation oncology. Malcolm Bagshaw was born and raised in Tecumseh, Michigan, a small town southwest of Detroit. When he graduated from high school after the United States had entered World War II, he was drafted into the Navy and sent for officer training at Wesleyan University in Connecticut. His ambition was medicine. In 1946, the Navy sent him to the Yale Medical School. After he was discharged from the Navy, he continued as a Yale medical student with support from a scholarship. His involvement in cancer research prompted him to earn the school’s Borden Award for a term paper on research he shared with Dr Kaplan. In 1950, Dr Bagshaw interned in surgery at Yale and then entered a surgical residency. However, he found that his own health problems dissuaded him from continuing surgery. In 1953, he moved to the University of Michigan for a residency in radiol-
ogy and an emphasis on cancer treatment with Isadore Lampe, who managed the radiation therapy section. When he completed his residency and passed the ABR examination in 1956, he began work at Stanford in the therapy section of its department of radiology. Dr Bagshaw was interested in Henry Kaplan’s research, including his effort to stimulate expanded radiation therapy devices called linear accelerators. Stanford was the first American institution to install a linear accelerator for patient treatment. In 1959, the Stanford medical school was moved onto the university campus in Palo Alto, south of San Francisco. A year later, Dr Bagshaw was appointed chief of radiation therapy, as Dr Kaplan was active in national and international medical politics and cancer treatment. Some years after Dr Kaplan had stimulated the creation and marketing of linear accelerators by the originated Varian Company in Palo Alto, Dr Bagshaw persuaded the company to produce a patient treatment simulator. This device would avoid the need for treatment planners to tie up the accelerators before beginning treatment. In 1962, Dr Bagshaw spent a sabbatical year in the Institut GustavRoussy in Villejuif, France. He was also involved in research projects and active in radiation therapy organizations. By 1969, he was promoted to a full professorship in radiology. In 1972, Dr Kaplan retired as Stanford’s radiology chairman, and Dr Bagshaw succeeded him. At that time, the Stanford radiology department included both therapeutic and diagnostic radiology, nuclear imaging, and fundamental
research. Dr Bagshaw continued to manage the therapy section. In 1978, he spent a second sabbatical year with Mortimer Kligerman at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. Dr Kligerman was testing the use of high-energy radiation pions for cancer treatment in the same laboratory where atomic bombs had been assembled in 1945. He returned to Stanford and obtained a federal subsidy to build a comparable pion generator. However, both he and Dr Kligerman concluded that the pions were not effective, and their use was stopped. By the 1980s, most academic radiology departments in the United States had separated diagnostic and therapeutic services into two departments. In 1986, Stanford followed the pattern. Dr Bagshaw continued as chief of therapy, and Ronald Castillino, who had managed the diagnostic section, was made acting chairman of the divided element. In 1989, Gary Glazer, of the University of Michigan, was appointed professor and diagnostic chairman. Dr Bagshaw continued as chairman of radiation oncology until he became an emeritus professor and chairman in 1992. Richard Hoppe was designated as his successor in therapy. In 1992, Dr Bagshaw was appointed as the Henry S. Kaplan– Harry Lebeson professor in cancer biology. Among his awards and citations were gold medals from the RSNA in 1999 and from the ACR in 2002. He continued as a member of the American Radium Society and the American Society of Therapeutic Radiation Oncology. Malcolm Bagshaw died in September 2011.
Otha Linton, MSJ, 11128 Hurdle Hill Dr, Potomac, MD 20854.
848
© 2012 American College of Radiology 0091-2182/12/$36.00 ● DOI 10.1016/j.jacr.2012.02.004
OTHA LINTON, MSJ
Malcolm Bagshaw When Malcolm Bagshaw was a medical student at Yale University, he shared a mouse laboratory with a junior radiology therapy faculty member named Henry Kaplan. That relationship emphasized Malcolm Bagshaw’s interest in cancer treatment and created a permanent friendship. Several years later, when he completed his training in radiation oncology, this friendship stimulated him to apply for a radiation faculty position at Stanford University, where Dr Kaplan was then chief of the department of radiology. He was accepted and spent his entire career at Stanford, rising to department chairman and gaining a world reputation in radiation oncology. Malcolm Bagshaw was born and raised in Tecumseh, Michigan, a small town southwest of Detroit. When he graduated from high school after the United States had entered World War II, he was drafted into the Navy and sent for officer training at Wesleyan University in Connecticut. His ambition was medicine. In 1946, the Navy sent him to the Yale Medical School. After he was discharged from the Navy, he continued as a Yale medical student with support from a scholarship. His involvement in cancer research prompted him to earn the school’s Borden Award for a term paper on research he shared with Dr Kaplan. In 1950, Dr Bagshaw interned in surgery at Yale and then entered a surgical residency. However, he found that his own health problems dissuaded him from continuing surgery. In 1953, he moved to the University of Michigan for a residency in radiol-
ogy and an emphasis on cancer treatment with Isadore Lampe, who managed the radiation therapy section. When he completed his residency and passed the ABR examination in 1956, he began work at Stanford in the therapy section of its department of radiology. Dr Bagshaw was interested in Henry Kaplan’s research, including his effort to stimulate expanded radiation therapy devices called linear accelerators. Stanford was the first American institution to install a linear accelerator for patient treatment. In 1959, the Stanford medical school was moved onto the university campus in Palo Alto, south of San Francisco. A year later, Dr Bagshaw was appointed chief of radiation therapy, as Dr Kaplan was active in national and international medical politics and cancer treatment. Some years after Dr Kaplan had stimulated the creation and marketing of linear accelerators by the originated Varian Company in Palo Alto, Dr Bagshaw persuaded the company to produce a patient treatment simulator. This device would avoid the need for treatment planners to tie up the accelerators before beginning treatment. In 1962, Dr Bagshaw spent a sabbatical year in the Institut GustavRoussy in Villejuif, France. He was also involved in research projects and active in radiation therapy organizations. By 1969, he was promoted to a full professorship in radiology. In 1972, Dr Kaplan retired as Stanford’s radiology chairman, and Dr Bagshaw succeeded him. At that time, the Stanford radiology department included both therapeutic and diagnostic radiology, nuclear imaging, and fundamental
research. Dr Bagshaw continued to manage the therapy section. In 1978, he spent a second sabbatical year with Mortimer Kligerman at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. Dr Kligerman was testing the use of high-energy radiation pions for cancer treatment in the same laboratory where atomic bombs had been assembled in 1945. He returned to Stanford and obtained a federal subsidy to build a comparable pion generator. However, both he and Dr Kligerman concluded that the pions were not effective, and their use was stopped. By the 1980s, most academic radiology departments in the United States had separated diagnostic and therapeutic services into two departments. In 1986, Stanford followed the pattern. Dr Bagshaw continued as chief of therapy, and Ronald Castillino, who had managed the diagnostic section, was made acting chairman of the divided element. In 1989, Gary Glazer, of the University of Michigan, was appointed professor and diagnostic chairman. Dr Bagshaw continued as chairman of radiation oncology until he became an emeritus professor and chairman in 1992. Richard Hoppe was designated as his successor in therapy. In 1992, Dr Bagshaw was appointed as the Henry S. Kaplan– Harry Lebeson professor in cancer biology. Among his awards and citations were gold medals from the RSNA in 1999 and from the ACR in 2002. He continued as a member of the American Radium Society and the American Society of Therapeutic Radiation Oncology. Malcolm Bagshaw died in September 2011.
Otha Linton, MSJ, 11128 Hurdle Hill Dr, Potomac, MD 20854.
848
© 2012 American College of Radiology 0091-2182/12/$36.00 ● DOI 10.1016/j.jacr.2012.02.004