News From Senior Physiologists

As originally published in The Physiologist
Volume 45, Number 1, February 2002, page 39-40

Letter to G. Edgar Folk

Ching-Tong Liu writes: “I was really surprised to receive your letter of 19 October 2001, reminding me of my 70 years old birthday. I used to enjoy reading some impressive stories of other senior physiologists in The Physiologist. It is unbelievable that this time is my turn to write something concerning my post-retirement life. I feel that life is too short, and there is too much remains to be done in one’s life. We simply do not have enough time to accomplish what we wish to accomplish. 

“I retired in September 1996 from a federal government position (GS-14 Research Physiologist) at USAMRIID (US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases), Fort Detrick, Frederick, MD. At first, I tried to readjust myself to fit a new and relaxed life style. No matter how well I prepared or how hard I tried for this so called ‘easy life,’ I felt completely lost by not going to work every day. I began to miss my administrative work, the laboratories, friends, colleagues, and the fun associated with my research. Indeed, the sudden change of normal routine almost stopped my hopes or dreams completely. 

“I began to feel uncomfortable shortly after a quiet and semi-isolated life. Although I had much ‘free time’ every day, there was no real purpose. First, I struggled to put my mind together to write a manuscript using accumulated data from the past. I also decided to learn some new things and kept myself busy. My main idea was to start a new career in the field of clinical sciences through active collaborations with physicians. 

“I began to apply some jobs with confidence. Initially, I believed that based on my scientific knowledge, working experiences in animal models, and established records of achievements, to find another job should be easy. However, I have been disappointed about the negative results. It appears that my advanced age may have played a role in preventing it happening. Nevertheless, I will continue to test the hypothesis of possible age-related cause.

“After retirement, my first adventure was to work independently as a Physiology Consultant at a local medical center in Frederick, MD. The main purpose was to help patients understand some possible causes of their diseases and recommend them to seek proper medical treatments from a group of selected physicians, including acupuncturists. Unfortunately, I faced many unimaginable difficulties, and I gave up this ‘business idea’ after four months of trying. The next thing I did was to collaborate with members in the Division of Substance Abuse, Frederick County Health Department to write an NIH research proposal, entitled ‘The treatments of human substance abuse with alternative medicine.’ The voluntary consent form has been approved by the Institutional Review Board, Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Baltimore, MD.

“When I began to write a research proposal, the first need was a local medical library where I could use their services and facilities to search for the literature. This necessity drove me to think seriously about returning to Fort Detrick. I had enough encouragement to request to work as a volunteer at USAMRIID, Fort Detrick in September 1997. The request was granted by the Commander and I got his permission to work with a mentor in the Medical Division. While I was finding my ways to get involved with some clinically related projects, I had the opportunity to work with several military medical officers. My main job was to help them write manuscripts using massive amounts of clinical data from previous human trial experiments. The data included the studies of efficacy and safety of three virus vaccines against Rift Valley fever, western equine encephalitis, and eastern equine encephalitis, respectively. I also wrote another clinical manuscript concerning the development of a human disease model challenged by two strains of enterotoxigenic E. coli. In addition, I continued to serve as a voluntary manuscript reviewer for Military Medicine. 

“Because I have been always fascinated by the mystery of Chinese medicine, I decided to read some books related to the acupuncture, herbs, and old concepts of human anatomy. While I was studying the concept of Chinese medicine, I was invited to give a talk by the American Dental Society of Anesthesiology in April 1999, Washington, DC. The topic was ‘The Integration of Eastern and Western Medicine Concepts.’ The contents were published in the Meeting Notebook. I was appointed as a member of the Advisory Board of Hepatitis magazine in June 1999. I wrote two short articles related to the concepts of Chinese medicine in the Hepatitis magazine.

“My four-year voluntary work at USAMRIID was completed in August 2001. I have been contracted by a company and assigned to work as a consultant at the same Institute. This sudden change really made me happy! I am glad that I can continue to provide some help to the Institute, concerning various aspects of vaccines and infectious diseases. Since this is a contract job with a fixed time limit, my applications for finding a more secure and regular job are continuing.

“At the age of 70, I consider myself in excellent health condition. Perhaps I have been doing the right things to my body and mind. I am still capable of taking care of the yard work, including grass mowing and leaves removal. Since I am also a gardener, I planted most of the flowers, shrubs, and trees around the house since 1973. I must keep them alive and trim them in some beautiful shapes. When I work in the yard, I am completely relaxed. I do not think or worry about things related to sciences or any other matters in this world. The enhanced muscular work and sweating really reduce my mental stress and improve the thinking process. 

“For my family life, I have a wife (In-May) and three daughters (Grace, Jeannette, and Chrissy). In-May is working in the fields of insurance and finance at the home office. The children have grown up and left the house. The youngest Chrissy is a sophomore at Harvard University, majoring in Computer Science. Jeannette, the second daughter, is a neurosurgeon, who is receiving residency training at the University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas. Grace graduated from Hood College in Frederick with a major in Art History. She is married and had twins (a boy and a girl) in April 2001. We visit our daughters sometimes and have so much fun with them. Especially, we are so happy and excited to see our grandchildren, who somewhat repeat our life patterns again in a new form.

“As for my advice or words of wisdom passing on to the younger colleagues, I do not believe that I need to say too much. The main reason is that they have heard a lot of good advice and know how to be successful working in the field of physiology. However, I cannot maintain silence without saying anything. The following six points are provided for consideration:

“1. Be curious about the life-maintaining processes and you must work very hard to understand and demonstrate the operational mechanisms in animals or humans. The emphases should include the studies of control animals and the pathophysiological mechanisms associated with diseases.

“2. Write research proposals continuously to obtain grants or contracts for continuing your exciting research work. 

“3. While studying molecular physiology is important, remember that the gained knowledge must be applicable to the whole body. 

“4. Have a broad training in many fields of biomedical sciences in your career to meet the future stiff and unpredictable challenges. 

“5. To learn is a life-long process, and you must do it continuously with pleasure and excitement. 

“6. Never forget that you are a physiologist. Your ideas and operations must be consistent with the physiological principles. The principles include logical designs, clear organizations, and precise coordination to function together as a whole.” 

Letter to Eugene Renkin
Bernice M. Wenzel writes: “Many thanks for your congratulatory note in observance of my 80th birthday. It was in the large box of mail awaiting my husband and me when we returned from Paris in June and it promptly migrated to the bottom of a stack of things-to-do-later. There it stayed, out of sight and mind, until a few days ago when I was finally stirred to clean up the unsightly pile, which had grown since another return from Europe last month, this last one complicated by the closing of US air space after 11 Sept.

“You asked whether I am still active professionally and the answer is a qualified ‘No.’ I closed my laboratory when I retired in 1989. Except for some invited talks at international meetings soon after that, I have done very little professional writing or speaking. I continue to attend the annual meeting of the Association for 
Chemoreception Sciences regularly and I go to the Society for Neuroscience meeting when it is in my neighborhood as it is this year.

“I have remained active at UCLA in the Emeriti Association and the Academic Senate. In the latter, I have served on a number of committees, chaired one for two terms, represented my department in the Legislative Assembly, and represented the campus in the systemwide Assembly. I have also served on some administrative committees. Currently, I am a member of the Committee on Faculty Welfare, the executive committee of the Friends of the UCLA Library, and an ad hoc review committee. In our Emeriti Association, which has over 1,000 members and is very active, I have filled many posts, including the presidency. Two years ago, the association presented me with a handsome plaque as Emeritus/a of the Year.

“After my husband, Wendell Jeffrey, retired from the UCLA psychology department in 1990, we set out for those parts of the world where, as he put it, our international meetings never took us. We have greatly enjoyed many trips to exotic and remote spots on all seven continents and hope that the present situation will not limit us while we are still vigorous enough for adventure travel. Together, we have established and supported an annual lectureship in the department of psychology for the last few years, called the Jeffrey Lecture on Cognitive Neuroscience. Each lecturer visits for three days, meets with graduate students, gives one major public lecture, and another more specialized one for students. It has been a very successful program. We take full advantage of the wonderful art museums in Los Angeles as well as the theaters and symphony. In summary, we have reveled in retirement, wonder how we ever had time to work, and look forward to more of the same.

“In return for the Society’s congratulations, I would like to send my own for its commendable practice of maintaining this contact with the retired members. I have tried to convince other associations to do something similar, with no success at all. I always enjoyed reading the letters before I retired myself. Such a personal touch by a large organization is impressive.”

Letter to Karl Wasserman
The following letter was originally published in the October 2001 issue The Physiologist (44:376, 2001). However, because there were errors in the original printing, we are reprinting the complete letter with corrections. 
Michael Barany writes: “Thank you for your birthday greeting and invitation to write a letter to The Physiologist.

“When I first wrote to The Physiologist I was optimistic. I thought retirement is nothing else; just a change in the source of my salary from the State of Illinois’ payroll to that of the State Universities Retirement System. This idea was working for two years, when the continuation of my 18-year NIH grant was declined. Soon it turned out that I can not get grants from various agencies, including my own Graduate College, which kept me as a full professor. In the absence of funds, I edited the book Biochemistry of Smooth Muscle Contraction, 30 chapters, published by the Academic Press. The book got good reviews in Science and Nature, and it is considered as one of the textbooks in smooth muscle research. I was happy when Dr. John Barron, my previous postdoctoral associate, currently Associate Professor of Cardiology in the adjacent Rush Medical College, invited me to work with him on smooth muscle metabolism. I devised a method for measurement of 3H-H20 produced from 3H-labeled sugars and fatty acids in muscle, and we published a few papers and abstracts. This happy time was interrupted when Kate had to be hospitalized with endocarditis and soon thereafter her retina got detached. I have spent the last three years with Kate at home.

“During this time, we prepared a home page, near to 100 pages, on “Biochemistry of Muscle Contraction” that contains selected topics from our class teachings, 1985-1995. This home page rapidly has spread over the Web; on average 500 files are being transferred per day to various countries all around the world. The home page became also part of the Biophysics Textbook OnLine, and I was asked to be the editor of the Muscle section of this textbook. Between 1997-2000, I was a member of the Senior Physiologist Committee, and enjoyed speaking and corresponding with physiologists of my age. Unexpectedly, I was reelected to the Committee and now I am serving my second term. Also while staying home, I organized the symposium of Muscle Research in the 20th Century that took place at the 2000 spring meeting of APS. Hugh Huxley, myself, John Gergely, and Clara Franzini-Armstrong were the speakers.

“In the middle of 2000, I returned to the laboratory, to work on actin in smooth muscle. The Edgar Folk, Jr. Foundation for Senior Physiologists donated me $500, my department helps by giving supplies from the storeroom on a long-term payment basis, but my personal money is the main support of my research. Fortunately, throughout my life I was working in the lab with my own hands; thus, I have no difficulty carrying out the research virtually alone.

“At the end of the 1990s, Kate and I were invited to write our autobiography to the Selected Topics in History of Biochemistry: Personal Recollections VI, an Elsevier series within Comprehensive Biochemistry. We described our 50-year marriage and scientific collaboration under the title, ‘Strife and hope in the lives of a scientist couple.’ The message that we want to send to the new generation of physiologists is: ‘Strife and hope, and never give up. The day will come when life smiles on you. Serve science and humanity.’”

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