Friday,  May  20th,  2005
When  Jeff  Olson  was  in  high  school  and  thought  about  becoming  a  doctor, he  did  not  have  brain  surgery  in  mind.  "Even  as  an  undergrad  I  imagined myself  as  a  physician,  like  a  family  doctor;;  as  it  was  what  I  was  familiar with,"  he  said.  Along  the  way,  Olson's  career  path  took  a  turn  down  the arcane  streets  of  neurosurgery.  But  Olson  is  not  simply  a  brain  surgeon.  He is  in  the  field  of  surgical  neurooncology  -­  the  surgical  therapy  of  brain tumors.
This  specialized  field  is  a  mix  of  research  and  applied  science.  Olson  recalls in  high  school  experiencing  the  satisfaction  of  understanding  how  abstract concepts  apply  to  the  real  world  in  Kenneth  Swenson's  algebra  II  and calculus  classes.  "He  didn't  make  it  fearsome  at  all,"  said  Olson.  "He  made the  application  of  math  in  the  sciences  easy  to  understand."
Looking  back  on  school,  Olson  has  a  hard  time  naming  a  single  teacher  or experience  in  school  that  may  have  influenced  his  career.  Rather,  he experienced  the  cumulative  effect  of  many  good  teachers.  "I  had  excellent teachers  from  the  beginning,  even  in  elementary  school,  who  had  a  knack  for  making  you  understand,"  he  said.
Anyone  looking  to  work  in  a  highly  specialized  field  needs  help  from  people  who  already  work  in  that  field.  Classes  on  brain  anatomy  did  little to  spark  Olson's  interest  in  the  brain  surgery,  he  said.  It  wasn't  until  his  third  year  of  medical  school  when  he  was  invited  by  a  neurosurgeon  at
Hennepin  County  Medical  Center  to  spend  time  at  the  hospital  that  he  took  a  serious  interest  in  the  brain.  Watching  the  surgeon  deal  with gunshot  wounds  to  the  head  or  stroke  victims  suddenly  put  the  science  of  operating  on  the  brain  into  hard  reality.  "There's  not  a  lot  of  people who  do  what  I  do,"  said  Olson.  "So  you  need  someone  who  makes  it  clear  to  you  how  great  this  work  can  be."
After  medical  school  at  the  University  of  Minnesota,  he  started  his  residency  -­  doctors'  form  of  on-­the-­job  training  -­  at  the  University  of  Iowa.
Because  neurosurgery  is  a  small  cadre  of  doctors  nationwide,  many  neurosurgical  residents  conduct  research  in  addition  to  surgical  training  so as  to  help  improve  the  field.  An  opportunity  to  work  in  cancer  research  opened  up  yet  more  avenues  to  Olson.  At  that  time,  in  the  mid-­1980s, the  hormone  drug  RU-­486  was  first  introduced  in  the  U.S.,  and  it  later  made  national  headlines  in  the  abortion  debate  as  the  "morning-­after pill."  The  University  of  Iowa  was  interested  in  the  drug  as  a  potential  cancer  treatment.  Under  strict  oversight  from  the  Food  and  Drug
Administration,  Olson  was  one  of  the  researchers  who  showed  that  the  drug  inhibited  tumor  growth  in  mice.  In  human  tests,  the  drug  proved to  be  unusable  for  this  purpose  because  of  serious  side  effects,  but  that  information  has  guided  development  of  other  hormone  therapies  for cancer  treatment.
After  his  six-­year  residency,  he  did  a  three-­year  stint  working  on  the  issue  of  radiation  protection  with  the  National  Institutes  of  Health  in
Washington,  D.C.  "We  can  cure  most  brain  tumors  with  radiation,  unfortunately,  the  level  of  radiation  required  is  lethal  to  the  patient,"  he said.  From  there,  Emory  University  was  looking  for  a  specialist  who  could  also  lead  their  brain  tumor  research  effort.  This  combination  suited
Olson  very  well  and  he  has  been  there  since  1990.
Becoming  a  doctor,  much  less  a  specialist,  takes  a  long  time  and  a  lot  of  work,  said  Olson.  Before  embarking  on  that  path,  Olson  recommends young  people  considering  medicine  connect  with  someone,  a  physician  or  researcher,  who  can  show  them  the  ropes.  As  co-­director  of  the
Emory  Brain  Tumor  Program,  Olson  is  involved  in  hiring  doctors  and  residents.  "At  this  level,  every  applicant  has  straight-­As,  so  applicants have  to  set  themselves  apart,"  he  said.  "Things  like  volunteer  work  at  a  free  medical  clinic,  or  conduct  of  research  with  a  university  show evidence  of  additional  talents.  As  an  example,  we  have  had  candidates  that,  in  addition  to  demonstrating  outstanding  academic  credentials, did  special  projects,  such  as  raising  money  to  assist  in  a  vaccination  program  in  the  inner  city  -­  in  other  words  we  are  interested  in  something that  will  make  us  take  a  second  look."
He  added,  "Careers  in  medicine,  neurosurgery,  and  research  are  the  sorts  of  activities  that  have  to  be  sought  out.  In  entering  these  fields  you will  probably  be  told  'no'  a  lot,  but  eventually  you  will  find  someone  as  mentor  and  role  model  who,  when  you  explain  that  you  are  earnest,  will help  you."