Fleeing Vienna and the Nazis in 1938, being the last admitted to his medical school class, avoiding the Doctor Draft – Eugene Braunwald’s lifewas full of close calls that could have led to a very different career path or a life cut short. Medscape Medical News spoke with cardiologist Thomas Lee, MD, about how he came to write Eugene Braunwald and the Rise of Modern Medicine and his final conversations with the eminent physician. 

To read the second part see: How Braunwald Changed Medicine and Navigated Research Fraud

How did you first learn of Eugene Braunwald, MD?

As I wrote recently in JACC, when I applied for internship at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, Boston, I met the chief resident, Victor Dzau, who was the first Chinese chief resident I’d ever seen. That was 1978 and I asked him, what’s it like being Chinese at the Brigham, and he said that the Brigham was as close to a meritocracy as any place and the reason is Braunwald. He said Braunwald would not care if you were purple as long as you’re smart and you work hard.

I decided on the spot that this is where I wanted to go. I never worked directly with Braunwald, but we met about my career, and he was an awe-inspiring figure.

When did you decide you wanted to write his biography?

In the 1990s, the historian David McCullough came out with a book on Truman, and I heard him talking on the radio about how he wanted readers to understand how life felt so uncertain back then. He wanted to help younger people deal with the uncertainty in their lives by putting it in perspective.

When I heard that, I thought I want to write a biography of Braunwald because I knew that his life was not one smooth path to glory. There were all sorts of travails, some imposed by Nazis and other outside forces, anti-Semitism, research fraud in his laboratory, by John Darsee. Things had turned out well because of how he responded and how he conducted his life. He worked hard, he built relationships, and he behaved with integrity.

I knew Braunwald had a great story, but at that time, I was too shy to ask him because it wasn’t my job.

For about 15 years I didn’t say anything, but it was in the back of my mind.

What changed?

In 2010 he met with me to talk about my career. He was on the search committee for a couple of major jobs that I did not get. He wanted to tell me that he thought I was meant for other things. He was being nice, consoling me. So when he said I was meant for other things, I said there’s something I’ve been thinking about for 15 years, which is that I’d like to write your biography.

I told him the McCullough story, and that I thought it would be good for my children and his grandchildren to read his story.

I knew he would never want to have one of his trainees write a hagiography so I said I think it would be good for the trainees to know what your life was like. He was silent for a full minute, which is a very long time to sit in complete silence with an iconic figure. Then he said okay.

We scheduled meetings every other Friday afternoon. Half the time we canceled because of his schedule or mine, but we met at least once a month over a couple of years.

It’s had nothing to do with the rest of my career, but it’s probably the thing that I feel most proud of.

Did he ask for final sign off?

No. I showed him everything to make sure it was accurate. But he understood the ground rules. It was an authorized biography, and there was nothing in there that he felt uncomfortable with.

His family was amazed that he said yes, and at the end he said he felt like he had undergone psychotherapy.

By the end of our 2 years, I really knew him, and he knew I really knew him.

When I was about three quarters done with the book, I got a new patient. It was McCullough, a total coincidence. I told him I was working on a biography, inspired by his comment. He asked to read it, and that’s why McCullough’s blurb is on the back of the book.

How important were the women in Braunwald’s life? His mother seemed very influential.

She’ll be the focus of the remarks I make at his memorial. When he was 15 years old. He was doing engineering, and getting Bs. His mother said to him, You are not a B, maybe you should think about medicine instead.

He married a remarkable woman Nina Starr Braunwald, the first female cardiac surgeon. She did the first prosthetic valve replacement with a valve that she and her husband sewed together in their kitchen. After she passed away, he married another strong woman, Elaine Smith. He had three daughters and appointed women chief residents.

Whenever he was in a room everyone was looking at him and listening to him because of the force of who he was but he ended up being very supportive of strong smart women and I think that comes from his mother’s influence.

He lived to a ripe old age and remained sharp. Was there anything he did to take care of his health?

Nothing in particular. He just stayed alive and listened to music constantly while he worked.

When was the last time you spoke with him? And was he optimistic about the future of medicine?

It was a few months before he died. He was optimistic about the future of medicine, but he was very concerned about the future of the US. He was almost morose about the state of politics which reminded him all too much of the rise of Nazism that he saw as a child.

Did he speak about the cuts to National Institutes of Health grants and research?

He was very concerned about the war on Harvard but he was very excited about progress in medicine and cardiology in particular.

What made him sad about growing old was that there were great things right around the corner that he would not get to see. He articulated that point of view many times.