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Essay

Gordon K. Klintworth, MD, PhD, HS'62-'65
The Luck of Being in the Right Place at the Right Time
The Luck of Being in the Right Place at the Right Time
Excerpt
“. . . In 1966 . . . practically nothing was written about the eye in textbooks of pathology. Indeed, I could only find two citations in a standard text recommended for our students, namely that the retina is affected in hypertension and in diabetes mellitus. From 1966 to 2007, all students at Duke University School of Medicine received my basic lecture, which was modified annually, depending on new information and feedback from the students. The detailed course covered more ophthalmic pathology than what residents in ophthalmology receive anywhere. . . . I developed a Web-based resource (eyepathologist.com) on the anatomy and pathology of the eye and its adnexa with Anthony Benson. It started as a brief teaching resource for medical students and gradually evolved into an encyclopedic resource with over 900 contributors. . . . Currently there are 10,573 registered users from 174 countries.”
In This Essay
  • Duke becomes refuge for South African neurologist during the tumult of apartheid, forging new path as neuropath 
  • Duke’s twin claims to fame before Google: parapsychology and the Rice Diet 
  • Paradise for a polymath: Teaching, research and clinical duties, plus an all-you-can-learn buffet of lectures, seminars, and multidisciplinary conferences 
  • Ophthalmology catches Klintworth’s eye. With F. Stephen Vogel, he carries out the first transmission electron microscopic studies on a corneal dystrophy, and later pioneers the use of organ and cell cultures for biochemical analyses of the cornea. Comprehensive teaching and a landmark text and Web resource follow 
  • From undertaker-coroners to physician-medical examiners 
  • Duke’s fame in fungi mushrooms 
  • Revelations about the Bell Building and the geniuses and odors within 
  • Lamenting the demise of Duke’s clinicopathologic conferences, which reviewed more autopsies than a full season of CSI: Miami
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Gordon K. Klintworth, MD, PhD, HS'62-'65
Biography
Gordon Klintworth immigrated to the United States in January 1962 to undergo postdoctoral training in anatomic pathology and neuropathology at Duke. He then decided to become one of the very few pathologists devoted to a career to ophthalmic pathology, due to the planned creation of the Duke Department of Ophthalmology. He was appointed to the Duke faculty in 1966 and gradually rose through the academic ranks to his current position as the Joseph A.C. Wadsworth Research Professor of Ophthalmology and professor of pathology. He has been married for more than 50 years and has three children and four grandchildren.

The views expressed within each of these essays are solely those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Duke University School of Medicine or Duke University Health System.