GROWING AN INTEREST IN AUTOIMMUNE THYROID DISEASE: An Interview with Robert Volpé, MD, FRCP(C)

Abstract

Robert Volp6, MD, FRCP(C), has made many contributions to research on thyroid autoimmunity over a long and productive career (his curriculum vitae lists 320 publications). To persons with a special interest in these diseases, he has been a stimulant to new thinking and a much discussed investigator. Recently, Dr. Volp6 became Emeritus Professor at the University of Toronto and has been finalizing his research activity. The author thought an interview focusing on his career would be of interest to many of the readers of this monograph. The following discussion was recorded at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine on May 14, 1999. The conversation has not been edited heavily. TFD: thought we would start, Bob, with some background. were born in 1926. Tell us a little bit about where you come from and how you ended up in medicine. RV got into medicine as a residue of the war. I was in the Canadian Navy in WWII in the North Atlantic. I was on a destroyer, my job was as a gunner, well, my actual job was in telegraphy, but I doubled as a gunner. I had a very undistinguished Navy career! When it ended, I found myself alive, and I traveled home to Toronto where my father was a family physician. TFD: You didn't see any action? RV: Yes, I did see some action. Remember, I joined up at 17 years of age, and I was out by the time I was 19. I did have some experiences that made me think that being destructive wasn't such a good idea. Anyway, I came home, and my father asked me what I was going to do, to which I replied that 'I'm