EVA G. RADEL, M.D., Class of 1958

Since graduation I have spent all of my working life in the Bronx in affiliation with the Albert Einstein College of Medicine where I am currently a Professor of Clinical Pediatrics. I did a straight pediatric internship (quite new then instead of a rotating internship) and residency at Bronx Municipal Hospital Center (Jacobi Hospital), followed by a fellowship in pediatric hematology. In those days there was a minimal amount of oncology in the practice of this field and the term was not included in the title. This was to change dramatically during the course of my professional life. In my early career my major concentration was on babies with hemolytic disease of the newborn. There was not yet a field of neonatology and hematologists were the only physicians who could do an umbilical vein catheterization and exchange transfusion. It was quite exciting over the next decade or two to see Rh incompatibility virtually disappear by prevention

After completion of my fellowship in 1963, I joined the attending staff and faculty of Montefiore Medical Center which had just become a general hospital with a full-time pediatric department. I have remained there ever since. I became the director of the Division of Pediatric Hematology-Oncology in 1979 and developed a fellowship program in 1997. I initially spent part of my time at Morrisania City Hospital, an affiliate which was subsequently replaced (in 1976) by North Central Bronx Hospital. I remained on the staff at that hospital, where I also served as Associate Director of Pediatrics, until 1992 when the affiliation with Montefiore was severed. In 2004, after spending many years working “full-time plus,” often with “24/7” hours on call, much of which time was spent in the hospital and away from my family, I reduced my working hours to 3 days/week which continues to date, and I now spend most of my time seeing patients in the clinic, doing consultations, and teaching.

Personally, I remain married to Stanley and look forward to celebrating our 54th anniversary in 2 months. Stanley was a professor of chemistry, and for a number of years chairman of the department, at CCNY. He has been fully retired for several years. We have lived in the same house in Yonkers since 1968 and raised two wonderful daughters who, fortunately, live nearby. I was obviously a terrible role model, since neither of them had the least interest in medicine. Carol works in the development department of the American Ballet Theater as database and finance manager. Laura is a senior vice president and CIO of an advertising agency in New York. My greatest joy is spending time with my two young grandsons (16 months and 3 years of age). I regret that I gave up playing tennis a number of years ago for a variety of very minor medical problems. However, my remaining hobbies are gardening and traveling.