Alumni Profiles

James Caruso, MD, Class of 1988

By Therese Michels

Rounds

After 20 years, some things begin to seem like old hat, but with the amount of hats James Caruso, MD, wears, “It’s always something new.”

The 1988 graduate of the College of Medicine, who joined the United States Navy just prior to medical school, is now a Naval commander, flight surgeon, pathologist, expert in hyperbaric and diving medicine, author, researcher, husband and father. He’s the only pathologist in the country who is board certified in diving and hyperbaric medicine.

  Caruso’s quest to find a diverse career began a long time ago. Just after completing his undergraduate degree at the University of Illinois in Urbana, he enlisted in the Navy. Although the military funded his medical education, that wasn’t the driving force behind his joining.

“I think everyone should do a couple of years,” Caruso said. But he’s done more than a couple and in that time he has experienced much and seen a large portion of the world.

After leaving the College of Medicine in 1988, Caruso completed a transitional internship at the Portsmouth Naval Hospital in Virginia. During a five-year residency he spent 18 months as the ship’s doctor on the USS Trenton in Panama for Operation Just Cause and the Gulf War. He also took six months to attend a Navy diving and submarine medical school.  

In 1994 Caruso began a residency in pathology and a fellowship in diving and hyperbaric medicine at Duke University Medical School in Durham, North Carolina. During that time he learned the particular medical aspects of caring for divers. Beginning in 1999, Caruso worked as a hospital pathologist in Pensacola, Fla., followed by eight months of flight surgeon training.

Last March, Caruso was transferred to Washington, D.C., where he is the associate medical examiner for the Armed Forces. As forensic pathologist, he travels to military crash scenes to perform autopsies and recreate crashes.

“We look at wreckage,” he said. “And put the story together.”

Although Caruso enjoyed being the “doctor’s doctor” in Pensacola, he welcomed the transfer to DC. “I didn’t want to be hospital based. I missed the operational military and wanted a more action-type role.”

The action included a recent trip to Texas to recreate a crash that killed four military personnel and a past trip to Guam for a similar case. His travel is not always affiliated with investigating crash scenes. The Navy also sends Caruso to various places to share his knowledge with residents.

Another exciting endeavor with which Caruso is involved is a study on severe decompression sickness. He wrote a proposal and was awarded a $170,000 grant from the Navy. Some of his research will include trips to Seattle, Wash. and Miami, Fla. as he completes the three-year project .

He also works at the Maryland State Medical Examiners office and at the Dover National Mortuary.

And as Caruso looks back on how he ended up with the vast medical knowledge he holds, he mentions many of his mentors at the College of Medicine. Gary Anderson, MD, and Richard Novak, MD, helped Caruso choose a career path toward pathology. Gary Rifkin, MD, and Thomas Root, MD, also made Caruso’s list of memorable instructors.

“I learned a lot about infectious diseases from them.” He said.

He has also realized the importance of his daily trips to Mt. Morris and the time he spent with Lovell Edwards, MD.

“It helped me immensely.”

His James Scholar work was listed as a key to future success. The research Caruso completed in Rockford on joint flexibility and soft tissue injuries in high school athletes, was just the beginning of his research and documentation. He has since published six book chapters in recognized medical texts as well as numerous articles for periodicals.

After describing 15 years of medical and Naval service, Caruso turns his thoughts to the softer side of life, as he speaks of his wife Pam and their two daughters, Erica and Amanda. He met Pam while she was training to be a nurse at OSF St. Anthony Medical Center at the same time he was making his way through medical school. Pam and the girls don’t seem to complain about the travel even as the family contemplates a four-year stay in Okinawa.  

Then Caruso expects to settle down near Duke University, where he can hang up a few of his hats and devote his time to teaching and watching his girls grow.

Gary Anderson, MD, 2002 Distinguished Alumnus Award winner

By Therese Michels

Rounds

“Interesting and cool.”

That is how Dr. Gary Anderson describes his profession. That is also how medical students and fellow staff members describe Anderson.

Anderson, who serves as the interim chairman for the Department of Pathology at the University of Illinois College of Medicine in Rockford, was bestowed the 2002 Distinguished Alumnus Award, after being nominated by his colleague, Dr. Connie Vitali.

“Dr. Anderson has demonstrated achievement in multiple criteria listed on the nomination form,” Vitale said in her nomination submission. “The most notable are his outstanding commitment to the College of Medicine at Rockford and his achievements in medical education.”

Anderson’s commitment to the College and achievements in medical education began when he was trying to determine what direction his bachelor’s degree in biology from Knox College in Galesburg, Ill. would take him. After he chose to pursue a career in medicine, he chose to pursue it with a degree from the College of Medicine. Somewhere along the way, he elected to specialize in pathology and completed his residency at the University of Iowa. It was then that he returned to Rockford, where he has practiced and taught ever since.

Anderson’s responsibilities at the College include running the pathology department and teaching the required pathology class to all M2s. He also teaches a pathology elective to M4s.

“There are a lot of aspects I like about teaching,” Anderson said, admitting that although he enjoys the practice of pathology, his favored position is that of a teacher. “It’s fun to have that interaction. You learn best when you are teaching.”

And what he’s learned is that “normal is boring.”   Anderson explained that during the first year of medical school, students learn all about normal human functions.

“Then they come here and see the abnormal,” he said.

When teaching about abnormal, Anderson does not use boring techniques either.

“I show them wonderful specimens, like nasty tumors,” Anderson said. “Students love it. It’s overwhelming.”

His method of teaching is shared by other instructors in the pathology department, like Vitali, whom Anderson refers to as his “partner in crime.” Since they work together in private practice, the two experience many findings that can be shared with the students.

“We’re not researchers, we’re practicing pathologists,” he said. “That’s the advantage, our course is very appealing.”

The appeal of his courses has won Anderson five Golden Apple awards, which Vitali believes he strongly deserved.

“He is an exceptional teacher and consistently demonstrates that students’ educational needs are his main priority,” Vitali said. “His enthusiasm for education is infectious, and he contributes to a productive and fun environment.”   

When away from the lab and the classroom, Anderson finds a variety of ways to have fun. In addition to enjoying time with his wife of 27 years, Judy and their three daughters, he spends quite a bit of time working to preserve and restore prairie land. As a long-time board member with the Natural Land Institute, Anderson is a strong advocate for native plants. He continues to learn more and more about plants and leads tours at Rockford area prairies.

Other community service includes his former role as a board member for Rockford Sexual Assault Counseling.

On the softer side of life, Anderson plays classical guitar and gardens.