Gerald Klatskin

At a time of celebration of one of American medicine's great men, it is appropriate to try to capture the essence of his being as seen by his students-past, present, and perpetual. When we, his former Fellows, think of Gerry Klatskin, we really do not focus on his obvious great productivity as a clinical investigator, his myriads of papers and textbook chapters, his dozens of honors and awards and special lectureships. What visions and memories and impressions are we most likely to recall? First of all, there is the personal and idiosyncratic side of the man. "The Klats" (a label of affection and admiration most widely used by his former Fellows) is warm, unassuming, and totally unpretentious. Affable, garrulous and good-humored, his story-swapping (more accurately described as story-telling) abilities are almost legendary. If you haven't spent a few hundred hours listening to Klatskin anecdotes, told with great relish and verve, then you haven't really become a liver doc! In fact, many of us have traveled to Chicago each November more to hear the latest Klatskin liver stories than to fight encephalopathy during the meetings. Often enough there is a genuine clinical pearl involved in each seance, as Klatskin Fellows, old and new, gather around to hear the Master, a bead of perspiration on his chin, pipe and/or drink in hand, enthusiasm in his eyes and voice, spin out another yarn. What other traits come to mind? Gerry Klatskin combines complete intellectual honesty and scientific skepticism with a voracious curiosity and almost unbelievable thoroughness. Who else, when titillated by a new problem or question, would write or call every known source of pertinent information, read every relevant paper in whatever language, review every pathology specimen (and take photos of each), and end up by being one of the world's experts on the subject, simply because his curiosity would allow no other course of action? Small wonder that Dr. Francis Blake, his mentor, suggested he should be termed "DRD"-"Doctor of Rare Disease." Klatskin, the clinician on the wards, applies the same skepticism, the same curiosity, the same almost exasperatingly thorough clinical approach. Who among his former Fellows doesn't recall feeling a bit superfluous while standing by, watching him take his own history, do his own physical exam, and read the entire old record-all of which we had already, proudly but naively, presented to him? And how often did we