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Combining Science and Medicine in Pathology
By Barbara Spector
“Bryn Mawr was the single most positive formative experience of my entire life,” says Carolyn Compton ’69, chair of the pathology department at McGill University, Montreal, and pathologist-in-chief at McGill Health Center. She might have missed out on that experience, except for a chance conversation with a classmate in high school.
Compton had applied to only one college, Pennsylvania State University, but was rejected because her application was late. A classmate asked Compton where she was going to college. She replied, “Nowhere.” Compton recalls his horrified reaction — “You have to go to college!” He and his father helped Compton investigate her options, and she learned that her S.A.T. scores qualified her for a scholarship at any Pennsylvania college. Even though the deadline had passed, Compton applied to Bryn Mawr and was accepted.
Discovering New Worlds
Compton grew up in Broomall, Pa., just five miles from Bryn Mawr but “a world away,” she says. Though her high school grades were very good, she explains, “No one in my immediate or extended family had ever gone on to higher education. I was much more interested in social things than in academics.”
At Bryn Mawr, Compton gained a new appreciation of scholarship. “You are treated like a scholar, and you become one. Even in our dormitories, we all stayed up till the wee hours talking — and much of the talk was academic,” she says.
Compton decided to major in biology to pursue her interest in embryology. Jane Oppenheimer, professor of biology at the time, was the first female scientist she had encountered. “I always liked science, and now I could see there were possibilities for women I hadn’t thought of before.”
The summer after her first year at Bryn Mawr, Compton worked in the research lab of surgeon Alex Haller at Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore. “I got to be in the operating room and watch him correct congenital cardiac malformations,” she says. “I was drawn to medicine from that point on.”
During her junior year, Compton attended the University of Geneva, where she gained a more global perspective through friendships with European students. “I’d never been outside of Pennsylvania before. I credit my junior year abroad with opening my thoughts and my eyes to many new possibilities,” Compton says.
When Compton enrolled at Harvard Medical School, she experienced culture shock. As a student at Bryn Mawr, she hadn’t experienced the cutthroat pre-med competition typical at other institutions. “At Harvard, I felt like a little fish in a very big pond,” Compton recalls. “It took a while to realize I deserved to be there.”
Compton became the first woman to complete Harvard’s newly instituted M.D./Ph.D. program. “My primary reason for choosing the combined degree program was financial,” she explains — students received free tuition plus a stipend, but those who failed or quit had to repay the tuition. “The fear of failure kept me going in some low moments,” she recalls. The professional benefits of having an M.D. and Ph.D. degree also motivated Compton to succeed. “It was a way to have a place and respect in both the medical and scientific communities,” she says.
Intellectual and Professional Challenges
Compton was attracted to pathology because it combined the art of medicine and the science of tissue morphology. “What I liked most was the intellectual challenge of making a diagnosis as a physician and a scientist,” she says.
Compton served on the University of Massachusetts faculty from 1982 to 1984. At the university’s medical center, she was acting chief of hospital pathology and director of surgical pathology, autopsy pathology and the residency program. Compton also developed specialties in gastrointestinal pathology as well as the treatment of burn patients.
Compton received her “15 minutes of fame,” she says, in 1984 when, as a member of the team that pioneered the use of cultured skin ofr treatment of burns, she was featured on the front page of the New York Times and in People magazine.
In 1985, Compton returned to Harvard. She also held appointments at both Massachusetts General Hospital and Shriners Hospital and received two faculty prizes for excellence in teaching. Compton became one of only 50 female full professors at Harvard Medical School in 1998.
In 2000, Compton was ready to move on to accept the pathology department chair at McGill. The position appealed to her because of the challenges it involves, she says. Compton not only is responsible for all teaching and research, but also is charged with revamping a key department at one of the leading medical institutions in the world. She also heads the clinical pathology services at five McGill hospitals.
Demanding as these responsibilities are, Compton also makes time for committee work. She chairs the Cancer Committee of the College of American Pathologists, the Pathology Committee of the Cancer and Leukemia Study Group B, and the Education Committee of the American Joint Committee on Cancer, among other activities.
Considering Compton’s distinguished career and many professional accomplishments, one may find it hard to believe that her highest aspiration in high school was to date the captain of the football team. “My life goals,” she says, “were substantively changed by my Bryn Mawr experience.”
About the Author
Barbara Spector writes on science and technology as well as business topics. She is the executive editor of Family Business magazine and former editor of The Scientist.
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