Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Mark Allen Everett

2007; Elsevier BV; Volume: 57; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/j.jaad.2007.03.009

1097-6787

Walter H. C. Burgdorf,

Autoimmune Bullous Skin Diseases

“A man for all seasons” has become a cliché, but when struggling to find a term to describe Mark Allen Everett, I can do no better (Fig 1). Mark was a close personal friend for more than 30 years; he and my wife and I shared many happy moments and a few very sad ones. He would not want a eulogy, but it is important for all of us not to forget the great deeds and remarkable personalities of our dermatologic forebears. Mark died after a lengthy battle with prostate cancer on June 3, 2006, just a few days after his 78 th birthday, which he was able to spend with his family and many of his close friends. Mark Everett was born in Oklahoma City on May 30, 1928. As he delighted in pointing out, his birthday was a national holiday—Memorial Day. He never really left Oklahoma and was a proud Okie all his life. His father, Dr Mark R. Everett, was a biochemist who came to Oklahoma City in 1925 to head the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Oklahoma Medical School and served for many years as Dean. Mark was somewhat of a prodigy, graduating from the University of Oklahoma when he was 19 and from medical school when he was just 23. He then served as a physician in the US Air Force in Wiesbaden, Germany, after receiving public health training at Tulane University. During his stay in Germany, Mark became a fan of expressionistic art, and over the years he gradually accumulated one of the largest and most significant private collections in the United States. He then moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan, to train in dermatology under Arthur C. “Whitey” Curtis, who produced some 25 chairmen during his tenure. After finishing dermatology training, Mark returned to Oklahoma City where he opened a private office, but he quickly became involved with the University of Oklahoma dermatology program—an affiliation which lasted 50 years. Those 50 years of Mark's life can be viewed through four prisms: his scientific accomplishments, his role as a teacher–clinician, his community involvement, and his patronage of the arts. Because of Mark's unforgettable personality and lengthy tenure, many forget just how effective a scientist he was. Recognizing early that he could excel in only so much, Mark brought together a loyal cadre of PhDs and two ambitious young dermatologists; together this group produced some very basic and still-cited papers. Bob Sayre and Mark did studies defining ultraviolet erythema, which are still milestones, while Bob Olsen, Bob Nordquist, and Mark were the first to suggest that Bowen disease could have a viral origin. Tom Nix and Mark first identified “sunburn cells” and discussed the role of apoptosis in the skin when no one else could spell or pronounce the word. Later, Euan MacMillan and Mark were among the first to employ lymphocytic markers to study a wide variety of inflammatory dermatoses and lymphomas. Two clinical fields where Mark was a world expert were light-sensitive eruption in American Indians and parapsoriasis, where he and Clark Lambert produced a classic paper on the nosology of this still befuddling group of disorders. For most of his career, Mark was lucky to have Dennis Weigand as his right hand man, attending to clinical and teaching details. Mark was the consummate clinician. I worked closely with him for 6 years and was always amazed at how he knew every diagnosis; even if he did not know the exact name or latest reference, he intuitively knew what was wrong with the patient and how to fix it. Nowhere was this more apparent than with the tender, loving care he extended to cutaneous lymphoma patients from all over Oklahoma. One small, predominantly black village in Eastern Oklahoma had two individuals—Rose and Joe—who staged long, tragic battles with the disease. Whenever Rose or Joe would call, Mark would drop everything to help them, and he expected no less from his junior faculty and residents. He could talk with an oilman about drilling sites, a farm wife about cooking, and a local arts patron about Botticelli within a span of 5 minutes, using a slightly different accent and completely different reference points, with a skill I have never seen in anyone else. Mark was an eccentric chairman when it came to dealing with residents, whom he referred to as “the children.” In the very early days, he laid down some peculiar requirements, like weighing in every week (he deplored obesity) or attending plays, concerts, or operas (at Mark's expense) and then being called upon to produce verbal or even written reports on the experience. Some residents did not realize how special Mark's relationship with patients was, and tried to copy him. I remember hearing Mark tell an obese patient with psoriasis, “Lose 100 pounds and come back to see me, honey.” A judgment-impaired resident tried the same line a few weeks later and generated an endless list of complaints. Mark expected a superb performance on the practice boards from his residents, and those who did well were often treated with kid gloves. Mark was skilled at adjusting his style to the residents and their individual skills, so that almost everyone left his program well-trained and happy with their residency experience. As might be expected from the son of a dean, Mark was very active in medical school politics. He became chairman of the Department of Dermatology in 1963 and immediately realized that the facilities in an older wing of the University Hospital were inadequate. He bought a few lots several blocks from the medical center (now surrounded by other medical buildings) and drew up plans for a new dermatology clinic—free-standing and financed by patient revenues, but also supported by generous patrons and state funding. Mark was involved in the architectural plans for the building, which were based on an Irish castle he greatly admired; it was later voted the most architecturally significant building in Oklahoma in the early 1960s, and after three expansions, still provides dermatology with a unique facility completely under department control. Shortly before his death, the building was renamed the Mark Allan Everett Dermatology Building. Mark was also chair of the Faculty Board for 15 years, interim chairman of Pathology for 5 years, and Chief of Staff and CEO of the University Hospital for 5 years. Amazingly, these latter two activities were both carried out between 1980 and 1985, attesting to the fact that during this period he wore many hats. Mark's national dermatologic activities were also numerous. He served on the American Board of Dermatology from 1986 to 1995, after having organized the dermatopathology section of the board examination for many years. “The Board” was Mark's greatest interest, but he was also active in the American Society of Dermatopathology—serving as its president; the Society of Investigative Dermatology; and the American Academy of Dermatology (where he was proud that two of his “children”–Ron Wheeland and Ray Cornelison—became presidents). As much as Mark did for the dermatologic community, his influence on the cultural scene in Oklahoma was even greater. One of his closest childhood friends was Yvonne Chouteau, one of several famous Native American ballerinas from Oklahoma: they remained lifelong friends, and Mark never lost his love for ballet. When Yvonne and her husband Miguel Terekhov, a Uruguayan–Russian ballet dancer, returned to Oklahoma City in 1961, Mark helped them start the Oklahoma City Civic Ballet and then a ballet program in the School of Fine Arts of the University of Oklahoma. Mark supported this program with many scholarships and grants, helping it become one of the premier university ballet programs. He also loved gymnastics—for him, a cross between sport and art—and helped support the strong University of Oklahoma program. He was a close friend of Bart Connor, the legendary 1984 Olympic gold medal winner on the parallel bars. Mark also funded scholarships in art, music, English, and medicine. He founded the Oklahoma City Chamber Music Society and supported every other cultural event he was aware of at the university or in the Oklahoma City area. He received both the Mayor's Award and Governor's Award for contributions to the arts in Oklahoma. Mark developed an interest in Native American art as a college student in Norman when he met Oscar Jacobson, a Swedish artist who devoted his life to helping Native Americans transfer their extraordinary artistic skills into oil paintings and watercolors. Mark developed a large collection of Native American art, but that was just the start. His other strong interests were German expressionism (I remember walking through the expressionist collection at the Buchheim Museum near our house in Bavaria when Mark shouted after a few minutes, “My Pechsteins are better than these!”), and Greek and Etruscan pottery. He also had an extensive collection of books and artifacts on T. E. Lawrence (of Arabia), Carl Fabergé, and medieval architecture. Mark cultivated international friends as few have before or since. He was an active member of the British Association of Dermatologists and was eulogized in their magazine by Martin Black long before this article appeared. He also had many friends in Austria and Germany, speaking to them in rudimentary Germany with an overabundance of swear words. He helped establish the Gougerot Society, an organization of dermatologists that included some of the most famous names in the field. He was regarded with awe, respect, and love whenever he appeared at dermatology meetings around the world. One knew that as long as Mark was present, the sideline banter would be spicy and the meals and social events stellar.