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My father @rcjaffe officially retired this week. His last day @UICPhysiology was Monday, 8/31. Although my Dad always described himself as ‘small potatoes’, and since there was no departmental send-off, I wanted to highlight a few things about his career (thread)
1. My father started as an Assistant Professor in @UICPhysiology in 1975 and never looked back. 45 years in the same department! This is a picture of him from 1969. I’m glad he stopped smoking a pipe in the lab.
2. While some measure success as the size of your lab, H-index, how much funding you can obtain, etc., my father realized early on that he loved the hands-on part of doing research. So he never left the bench. Imagine that, 45 years as a PI & never leaving the bench.
3. And when I say never left the bench, I mean it. Of his 60 publications, 5 were single-author papers.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/6285957/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3497830/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/6315302/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/6269954/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/210065/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/6285957/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3497830/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/6315302/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/6269954/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/210065/
4. In addition to his research, my father taught countless graduate, medical, & dental students @UICmedicine. I met one many years ago when I was getting my head stitched after a car accident. The ER doc recognized my last name & asked if I was related to Randy Jaffe.
5. When I told him he was my Dad, he said he’d had him as a teacher in med school. ‘He was a nice guy’.
That was pretty cool.
(he then stitched me up without shaving a patch of hair on my head - thanks doc!)
That was pretty cool.
(he then stitched me up without shaving a patch of hair on my head - thanks doc!)
6. My father closed his lab several years ago but kept an office. He taught, sat on committees, & went through his current contents every day (after his cup of coffee). That was the way he wanted it - to wind down slowly & finish his career when he wanted to finish it.
7. So that time has come. Congratulations Dad. Enjoy retirement. Try not to drive Mom crazy.
