Personal Data
Current Mailing Address
Chi-Wan
Lal, M.D.
Medical Education Promotion Fund
Sun Yat-Sen Cancer Center
125 Lih-Der Road, Pei-Tou
District
Taipci,Taiwan 112
Email Address: chiwan2@yahoo.com
Present Activity Status: Working
Tell us about your community activities:
Executive Secretary Medical Education Committee,
Family Status: Married Children 2 boys Grandchildren 1
granddaughter
Professional Experience
What path has your career taken since
your residency? Include military
service, private practice, academic career, teaching and research
accomplishments.
I finished the residency in 1978, then took one-year
fellowship in BEG with Dr. Fernando Torres in U of M, and then moved to
University of Kansas Medical School to start my academic career with main
interest in EEG and epilepsy. I then became Associate Professor and then
Professor in 1992. I was in charge of residency program for a while until l998
when l decided to return to
Residency Recollections
We are interested in anecdotes and
experiences from your residency years.
Include interactions among fellow residents and teaching staff.
I
had a wonderful fours years in U of M residency and
fellowship program. I clearly remember how difficult for me in my first year
due to language/cultural barrier, and I cherish very much the friendship and
support the fellow residents offered me. I particularly appreciate my chief
resident, Dr Norman Reynolds, who has helped me settle down in my first year.
Norm helped me find a house next to his, and we came to know him and his family
very well. I worked very well with my classmates, and had a lot of fun memory
with Gus Cosenza, Dick Warren, Barbara Patrick, Daljit Kaur, etc., and I miss
those great teachers and particularly am fond of Fernando Tortes, Eduardo Tolosa, Mark Mahowald, Ilo Lippik, Dave Webster, Ansari, Dave Anderson, etc. I left U of M in 1979, and
since then I have kept in touch with Dr. Dave Good periodically, and we still
write each other through e-mail and Xmas greetings.
Because of being working in the same field, I have been in close contact with
Dr. John Gates who was the first year resident when I was the chief resident in
U of M. Through years John has become a
very close friend, and I truly feel sad to hear about his demise recently.
Looking back, would you do it again?
What would you change?
At
this age, it is hard to say what I would do differently in my career. I do appreciate the experience of being able
to be exposed to an entirely different culture for 23 years and then go back to
where I am from, and to help young medical students, and physicians to start
their careers. I certainly appreciate the experience from U of M which has not
only taught me how to be a good neurologist, but also to be able to appreciate
the difference of culture/language, through which I have gained the worldly
view which has broadened my scope of vision. If there is anything I would like
to do differently, I would say, I wish I could be U of M a few years earlier
when Dr. A.B. Baker was more active in teaching then.
Share your thoughts regarding the changes in medicine
since your residency. In your opinion,
is Neurology positioned well for the future?
To be honest, I am no longer thinking myself as a neurologist, I now position
myself more in the capacity of a physician, and I am very much absorbed in the
aspect of humanities and medical education. To that, I do think being a
neurologist; we tend to be more a thinking physician, more reflection then
other subspecialty who may be more interested in action. I think with the
advance of neuroscience, neurology is heading for a very challenging future. I
do think neurology still has a very bright future, provided the program can
change the gear toward more integration of clinical and basic science in order
to attract brilliant young talents, and through more multi-disciplinary
collaboration, to produce more clinically relevant research in neurology