11/15/07

By Brian Lee

	Steve FIsch
	Linda Shortliffe, MD

When Linda Shortliffe, MD, heard stories as a child of how her parents met “at camp” and soon married, she imagined that they had been in a nice summer camp: It sounded like they were with all their friends.

Not until the sixth grade, when she presented a book report on American relocation camps, did Shortliffe realize the U.S. government had interned her parents during World War II. The book-report experience at El Carmelo Elementary in Palo Alto reinforced Shortliffe’s understanding that, as a Japanese American, she had a different background than her classmates. Yet Shortliffe never let those differences restrain her from excelling in her career.

As a urological surgeon, Shortliffe rose to become president of the American Board of Urology, the chief of pediatric urology at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, and the Stanley McCormick Memorial Professor and chair of the Department of Urology. As a researcher, Shortliffe has helped reduce unneeded surgeries in children by employing technologies such as magnetic resonance imaging and ultrasound. She is known for using these instruments to distinguish kidneys with serious obstructions—that would benefit from surgery—from those that are enlarged for other reasons.

Shortliffe’s family set an example that motivated her to strive and achieve in a male-dominated field irrespective of her minority background. Watching her parents and grandparents work hard their entire lives prepared her to persevere through challenges. “When I look at my grandparents,” she said, “the obstacles that they went through were much greater and it really should be much easier for me.”

Japan drafted one of her grandfathers to fight with Russia at the turn of the 20th century, after which he immigrated to California to raise a family and run a grocery store in the small town of Penryn near Sacramento. His first wife died of tuberculosis and his second wife, herself a widow, gave birth to Shortliffe’s father, Setsuo Dairiki.

Shortliffe’s father, a diligent student, enrolled in summer courses at Stanford, which gave him just enough credits to graduate, when the government pulled Japanese students from the campus in April of 1942. Relocated to a camp in Nebraska, he met and married Shortliffe’s mother, Norma Yoshida. After the war, he faced job discrimination despite being a skilled engineer, and urged his children to train in an indispensable profession such as medicine.

Taking her father’s advice to heart, Shortliffe started medical school at Stanford in 1971. “I could probably count on one hand the number of people who were Asian in my class,” she said, “And that seemed like a lot at that point compared with college and high school.”

During her rotation in urology, when she was invited to assist in her first surgery, Shortliffe appreciated the accepting personalities of urologists, drawing her to take a residency in urology once the opportunity opened up at Stanford. When she obtained her board certification in 1983, only 15 women urologists practiced in the country, a number that has since grown beyond 200. In 2003, the National Library of Medicine acknowledged Shortliffe’s success in recruiting women urologists by featuring her in the exhibit “Changing the Face of Medicine: Celebrating America's Women Physicians.”

“Surgery was always considered a male-dominated field, partially because of the hours, time commitment, stress and pressure,” said Dixie Mills, MD, FACS, clinical assistant professor of general surgery at the Maine Medical Center and past president of the Association of Women Surgeons.

By raising two daughters, Shortliffe demonstrated women surgeons can bring up a family while thriving in their career, Mills said. Shortliffe also provided encouragement, as director of Stanford’s urology residency program for over 15 years, that did not exist decades ago, Mills said: “There used to be no surgeon role models for women in medical school.”

Besides her immediate role as a doctor and a researcher, Shortliffe has also found time for numerous activities beyond Stanford. She’s the past president of the Society for University Urologists and American Board of Urology, chair-elect of the urology section of the American Academy of Pediatrics, and chair-elect of the Society of Urology Chairs and Program Directors.

Shortliffe’s advice to minority students: Finish assigned tasks completely and to the best of one’s ability. If faced with an unjust setback, she suggested demonstrating one’s merit by always fulfilling responsibilities, and then trying a different approach or different area without giving up on excellence.

“If you just try to do your job, usually people will see you are just like every one else,” she said. It has usually worked for her.

---

Brian Lee was a science-writing intern in the medical school's Office of Communication & Public Affairs.