episode 4: dean jerry nadler

September 5, 2019

I was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY. Both of my parents worked in the garment district and I remember having a great childhood. Interestingly, my family was involved in owning racehorses and  I experienced watching these beautiful animals train at various settings. In addition, my brother was a thoroughbred horse trainer for a while. I have fond memories of waking up, going to the horse stables, and seeing the horses exercise. 

I was always interested in science and I began thinking about a career in medicine around junior high. A major influence on me was that my uncle, my father’s brother, had diabetes. It’s a type we’d now call type-1 in adults, or latent diabetes in adults (LADA). He didn’t have type 2; he was very thin. It was before blood glucose sticks were available, so he had to test his urine for excess sugar. He also used insulins that weren’t so pure, and he’d have episodes of blacking out and then developed complications. So I got to see at a pretty young age what uncontrollable diabetes could do to people. That got me interested in not just medicine, but in a diabetes career and endocrinology research. So it kind of worked out.

In high school, I really enjoyed science and I started playing tennis. I played on the tennis team and then I played competitively in college at SUNY Binghamton. I still play today, it’s one of the ways I relieve stress and try to stay healthy. I stayed in NY through college and I remember I was once snowed out of a tennis match in mid-May, which made me decide I needed to move to a warmer place. New York will always be a place that I consider home, though. I’ve stayed connected with all my high school buddies throughout the years, and we’ve met up for weddings and other major events. I was excited to be back here for this great opportunity but also because I’ve been able to reconnect with one of my friends with whom it was hard to get together. 

I chose to go to medical school at the University of Miami. It worked out, because my parents told me if I went down to Miami, they’d pay my tuition. The only catch was they retired down there and the deal was that I would have to live with them. That lasted about 6 months. So my tuition was covered for a little bit, but then I had to pay for it myself with loans.

I enjoyed my experience in medical school. I did research, back when I was a first and second year student. Interestingly, I did research with an endocrinologist, Dr. Daniel Mintz, who went on to fund the big diabetes institute down there. He set up a lab to do islet isolations and transplants in rodents; this was the early days before people had ever tried it, and I was fortunate to be in the lab right at the beginning. I learned how to isolate the islets and do transplants, then cure diabetes in rats. Only recently did I learn that he was an alumnus of NYMC. Working with him reinforced my idea that I wanted to be a physician-scientist as well as practice clinical endocrinology, so I kept it up.

I met my wife during medical school on a blind date on July 4th. I can say for real that we saw fireworks on our first date. I was a first-year medical student and my friend, an anesthesiology resident, told me “You’ve gotta go out, I’ve got a good one for you.” So, I went out and that’s how I met Mary Ann. Blind dates do work sometimes. We celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary last May. 

After I finished medical school, I wanted to do my residency in a warm climate. Mary Ann and I decided to wait to get married until after my internship year. I did my residency at Loma Linda University; I had always had a dream of going to California, and that was my top choice. People ask me “why Loma Linda and not one of those high-power places I interviewed at?” Well, I liked Loma Linda because they had a Veterans Hospital, a county hospital, and a private hospital. They had a culture of truly caring about the whole patient’s physical and emotional needs.  I liked the environment and opportunities there. I love to give back to the underserved communities as I feel like the patients really benefit from the physicians who work with them. I especially liked working with veterans, they gave much to our country, so it’s nice to give back to them. My residency was all clinical; I did a bit of research, but not much, and then I started my fellowship in endocrinology at the University of Southern California (USC). I really enjoyed that. I stayed on there as an NIH fellow, and I hired a post-doc, attained tenure, and received my first NIH grant. Although, I never received PhD, I worked three extra years learn lab techniques and further my goal  to become a physician scientist.

 I left USC to become Director of the Diabetes Department at the City of Hope. When I started, there were 1.5 FTE physicians and one nurse for research. While I was there, they developed their first diabetes center building and now they’re on the third diabetes center building. During the 10 years I spent there, we helped build the diabetes department to be one of the top centers in the U.S.  I was honored to work with Dr. Rachmiel Levine. Levine, of blessed memory, was one of the most famous diabetes researchers in history. He was also the Chair of Medicine here at NYMC in the 1960’s.

After that, I went to the University of Virginia to be the division chief of endocrinology; it took some convincing because we didn’t want to leave California. I said ‘no’ to the job three times, but I finally accepted the position because I wanted to go back to academics and work with medical students. That’s something that’s important to me; I’ve always liked to work with medical and graduate students as well as junior faculty. To me it’s very important to give to the next generation, especially at my age where you’ve learned a lot of things throughout your career and you want to help mentor them.

I was there for 10 years before going to Eastern Virginia Medical School (EVMS) and became their chair of medicine and then dean of research five years later. It was during that time that I really began to care deeply about the student experience. My son, Joseph, attended EVMS as a medical master’s student and then as a medical student. So, he was there during my last five years. I worked with many medical students through my son’s connections, as he was very friendly with the other students. Our house was close to the medical school and we always had a medical student living with us since we had an area that was private with its own bathroom, laundry area and kitchenette.

Even after my son moved out, (he was like me and only lived with his parents for the first year), we always had either a resident or a student staying with us. Students came over for Friday night dinners, Jewish holidays, and non-Jewish holidays, so I got to know a lot of the class. The students were very open with me. They knew I was Chair of Medicine, but they also knew they could tell me things typically not shared with a Chair. They talked to me about the dean, the school environment, and what they cared about; their concerns and what they liked, and I understood how they felt. This helps me know what you are going through, maybe more that some of the other medical school deans, because I’ve been able to learn about the student experience. If I can contribute anything to help, I’d like to.

One of the scariest moments of my life happened when I was at EVMS. I was invited to give a talk at a diabetes conference in Australia. My wife and I were flying out of San Francisco and I booked us on Qantas. Qantas never had a plane crash and I would always vouch for Qantas. The flight left in the evening and I immediately went to sleep. About three hours into the flight the plane began shaking and I told myself that we probably hit a bird. However, we were 38,000 feet up in the air in the middle of the ocean, we didn’t hit a bird. I looked out the window and I saw the engine on fire. After that the second of three engines caught fire. The plane began shaking violently and we had to turn back to San Francisco. We were too heavy to land, so we had to fly back up the coast jettisoning fuel. After landing, I immediately had to fly to LA to get another flight. We arrived in Sydney with no sleep and I gave my talk. It was the only time in my life I got a standing ovation before I even began speaking!

I was at EVMS for 10 years when I was fortunate to be recruited to NYMC. I was very deliberate in my decision. I was happy where I was, but I saw opportunity here to be an academic dean and really work with the students, help the curriculum, and help the research environment. The students are wonderful here and I find it refreshing. I’ve been around to a lot of medical schools, and whether it’s the campus, whether it’s the background, or the way the students bond, but it’s different here, it’s one of the positive things about NYMC. There’s a great environment and I feel like you deserve to have a dean that fits into that, so I try my best.

Throughout my career, I always practiced medicine, that’s one of the things I love about being a physician scientist. I never want to give up patient care and I probably don’t want to give up research either. It keeps me busy. I know this all sounds like a lot, but I think it's possible for any of you, if you maintain balance. In my opinion, diet and physical activity are incredibly important because they both help you keep a good attitude. Sleep too! I know as students getting enough sleep is a challenge, but it’s important. Doing things with the family is important. I have two sons; one is a chef and the other is a resident in internal medicine. Both my wife and my sons are wonderful cooks, so I get the benefit of wonderful healthy food too, which helps.

What do you listen to on your way to work in the morning?

I usually listen to the news. MSNBC or CNN. My favorite artists are Coldplay and Simon and Garfunkel. I like REM too.

If you could have any superpower, what would it be?

Growing up I always wanted to fly. I like the Avengers, and Thor’s my favorite because he can fly. On a more serious note, I would like to heal people or come up with new treatments to cure diseases we have not had success with. Really a step past personalized medicine, but you asked about a superpower.

Pick someone in NYMC you’d like to give a shout out to:

I’d like to shout-out to Michal Schwartzman. She suggested that I apply for the position here; we were at a research meeting together when she told me about the opening. She directs the Pharmacology Department here. I really admire her, especially because her research is fantastic, but also because there aren’t very many women who head medical school departments. She’s been able to rise to a position of leadership during a time when it was difficult to do so for women.

If someone wanted to talk to you, what should they say?

A lot of students say Dean Nadler, but if I know a student, they can call me Jerry. Some students feel a bit uncomfortable with that, but Dr. Nadler or Dean Nadler are fine. I will try my best to be available to our students.