Illinois Medicine

W THE COLLEGE OF MEDICINE HAS BEEN THE TRAINING GROUND FOR THREE GENERATIONS OF ONE FAMILY Family Medicine HEN THE FAMILY OF LEE MALMED '56, MD '59, sits down for dinner together, the con- versation frequently turns to X-Rays, CT scans and patient diagnoses. A radiologist, Malmed inspired both his son and his son-in-law—Al- lan Malmed '82, MD '86, and Cliff Wolf '80, MD '84, Res '88—to take up his specialty as well. Now Cliff's son, Brian Wolf '07, is a student at the College of Medicine, marking three generations of the Malmed clan who have received their medical education at the college. "I feel very fortunate that the school was available to me. It's given opportunity to a lot of people who would not have been able to gain entry into a wonderful profession, and my kids also have received the same opportunity," Lee says. The son of Russian immigrants, Lee grew up in the Lawndale neighborhood on Chicago's West Side and attended the U of I Navy Pier campus, where he met his wife of 54 years, Bonnie (Shellist) Malmed '60. Drawn to medicine by his experience working as an apprentice pharmacist in high school, he enrolled in the College of Medicine, driv- ing himself and fellow students to school in a $50 Pontiac with holes in the floorboards. "I had to struggle through, but the school itself was wonderful," he says. "The professors were excellent. I didn't realize how good they were until I went into the Air Force, and how much more grounded I was than doctors from other medical schools in good practices of medicine." Following his Air Force service, Lee completed his residency in radiology at Michael Reese Hospital, then joined Northwest Community Hospital in Arlington Heights in 1965. Lee stayed at Northwest Com- munity for the next 41 years—at times Allan would tag along as a young boy—helping build up a program that today includes 17 radiologists. He served as department chair from 1990 through 2001 and as president of the hospital's medical staff and a member of its board of directors and executive committee. Retired since 2006, Lee attended the College of Medicine reunion as part of the 50th anniversary class. "I'm very proud of my classmates and what they achieved," he says. "They've gone all over the country, they're good at what they do, and they're very moral individuals. It's nice to be part of that group." Although his father never pressured him to go into medicine, Allan Malmed knew he wanted to be a doctor by the time he was in his early teens. "I never consciously decided to be a doctor. It was just part of me," he says. "It may be because I grew up seeing that my father loved his work, that he was stimulated by it always." Like his sisters Robin (Malmed) Wolf '82 and Pamela (Malmed) Grad '85, Allan earned a bachelor's degree from U of I Urbana-Cham- L E F T: Lee Malmed, MD, sits with his family of doctors (from left): son Allan Malmed, MD, grandson Brian Wolf and son-in-law Cliff Wolf, MD. paign. He then attended the College of Medicine, choosing it for its combination of affordability and quality. "Once I was admitted, there was no question of where I was going to go. If you do well at U of I, the whole world is open to you," he says. Following a radiology residency at Loyola University Medical Center, Allan joined his father at Northwest Community Hospital. Now the vice chairman of the radiology department, he says he sees his father's influence constantly. "Our main goal every day is to do the exact best thing for every patient no matter what," he says. "The focus on quality over what's expedient or what would be more profitable is because of his strong philosophy that we do things right, not just what's easy." CLIFF WOLF ALSO GREW UP WANTING TO BE A DOCTOR. A native of Southeast Chicago, he attended UIUC, where he met Robin, whom he married in 1982. Following his first year of study on the Chicago campus, Cliff attended the College of Medicine at Peoria while Robin worked as a nurse at the college-affiliated OSF St. Francis Medi- cal Center. While in medical school, Cliff spent time accompanying his father-in-law at work, and came away impressed. He completed his ra- diology residency at the University of Illinois Medical Center, perform- ing scans for everything from gunshot wounds to brain hemorrhages and learning enough Spanish to communicate with the hospital's many Hispanic patients. "By the time I finished and I was ready to begin my practice, I had seen everything," he remembers with pride. Lee also recruited Cliff to Northwest Community Hospital. "I love what I do. It's interesting, it's challenging," says Cliff, who's now chair of the radiology department. "As a radiologist, I'm not looking at just one disease process or one organ or one methodology. I have to be an expert in every field." Unlike his father and uncle, Brian Wolf considered other career options growing up. "With a bunch of physicians in the family, I wanted to keep an open mind for myself," he says—but decided on medicine after visiting a hospital as part of a trip to Jerusalem during his senior year in high school. "We were visiting with children who were diagnosed with termi- nal cancer," he explains. "I talked with a girl for an hour and a half, and afterwards the physician told me he hadn't seen her smiling as much and with as much energy in a long time. I thought that being able to enjoy your work while making a difference in people's lives would be a great profession to follow." After graduating from UIUC, Brian enrolled at the College of Medicine. He's currently considering urology and, yes, radiology, as future clinical specialties. "It's nice to have something I can relate to with my dad and my uncle and my grandfather," he says. "We all have gone to school in the same buildings, we can talk about things about medical school that are still similar and have that connection. That's pretty special." I L L INOI S MEDICINE | 37

• Cover