Guts and Glory : The History of Baylor College of Medicine Department of Pathology

Pathologists call themselves the ""doctor's doctors"". Sometimes they tell the surgeon where to cut while the patient lies on the table. They tell the paediatrician whether her young patient has leukaemia. They give the ob-gyn good news. In Guts and Glory, we join the faculty and staff of the Department to wade through flood waters, provide blood products to the Shah of Iran in Egypt, and shield Howard Hughes' corpse from the media. We learn what it's like to be a pathology resident and why pathologists choose their field. We visit the legends of Baylor's pathology department. ""Guts and Glory"" follows the rise of the Department of Pathology from its beginnings in Houston during World War II, when it had staff of two in part of a former Sears store, to its current staff of 329 working in 21,000 square feet of space. In many ways, the story of the Department's rise and expansion mirrors the story of medicine in the twentieth century. Author Amy Storrow interviewed more than fifty people: pathologists, research physicians, blood processing technicians, administrative assistants-to weave together a portrait of the Department in its member's own words.