Every year, the George N. Papanicolaou Symposium brings together the Greek medical community to celebrate one of its own. Dr. Papanicolaou, raised in the Greek island village of Kymi, became a hero in women's health at New York Hospital, where he developed a cervical smear to detect cancer cells under a microscope more than 60 years ago. Christened the "Pap smear," it's now a routine procedure in gynecological check-ups. The doctor's bust still graces the entrance of Weill Cornell Medical College, where he keeps an observant eye upon this generation of students and physicians. The Symposium, held each year around his birthday, honors the legacy of this fine Greek mind.
A reception at Griffis Faculty Club on May 12 offered traditional Greek fare, such as spinach and feta pie, with photographs of Dr. Papanicolaou's life on display. At a presentation at Weill Education Center, admiring speakers fixed him in the pantheon of immortal Greeks such as Aristotle, Homer, and Plato.
The "Pap" rally: Dr. George Dangas; Dr. Lorraine Chrisomalis-Valasiadis, clinical assistant professor of OB/GYN at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center; Dr. Ioannis Zervoudakis; and Prof. Demosthenis Triantafillou unite in Greek pride at the 2005 Papanicolaou Symposium.
Dr. George Dangas, president of the Hellenic Medical Society of New York and associate clinical professor of medicine at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, called Dr. Papanicolaou the paradigmatic Greek name in medicine.
Dr. Katherine Hajjar, chairman of the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology at the Medical College, echoed the sentiment. "He was familiar with medicine as an endeavor of the mind and heart," she said. "His contribution has saved countless lives and continues to inspire future generations."
Professor Demosthenis Triantafillou, president of the Institute of Dodecanesian Studies in Fort Lee, N.J., read from notes he was preparing for a textbook on the doctor, entitled "Dr. Papanicolaou: A Source of Inspiration for All Generations." As a youngster, Dr. Papanicolaou yearned for immortality – a classic Greek desire that has pervaded Greek literature ever since the epics of Homer. His passion for truth and observable evidence, fostered by the European cultural climate, fed into a wide-ranging curiosity. He was a devoted student of not only music and the humanities, but also nature, philosophy and the physical sciences. Every human, he once wrote, is an unsolved mystery. He entered medical school at 15, graduated with honors at 21 and left Kymi for Germany, the intellectual capital of Europe at the time, where he studied physiology and natural science.
He noticed trees shed their yellow leaves as they die, and extrapolated that the body also sheds its aged, sickly or damaged cells – a way of thinking integral to the Pap smear he would develop. In 1913 Dr. Papanicolaou arrived in New York and began his career at New York Hospital as an assistant in the Department of Pathology. In the 1920s he began working with vaginal smears, noting the presence of malignant cells. But when he presented his first paper at a conference in Michigan, he received a cold response. Discouraged, he abandoned this line of research for many years. His attention shifted to hormonal changes of the menstrual cycle and predictors of fertility – he often blithely reminded his colleagues that "tonight's the night" for conception, keeping track of their wives' monthly clocks. But he held fast to his contention that vaginal smears would reveal cancer cells – a revelation critical to women's health. In 1941 he published a paper on the diagnostic value of vaginal smears in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. This time, the world listened, and the practice was widely embraced. Weill Cornell faculty over the years has built on his research, most notably Dr. William Ledger, former chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
"The Pap test has saved so many lives over so many years," said Dr. Ioannis Zervoudakis, associate professor of clinical obstetrics and gynecology in the Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine, speaking about the history of diagnosing cervical cancer.
Dr. Zervoudakis concluded that it was here, at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, that Dr. Papanicolaou achieved his life's goal: immortality.
Photo by Melissa Hantman.