Printer Friendly Page

Thomas Strax:
Man With a Mission

In October 2003, Thomas Strax, MD, professor and chair of the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, received the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation’s prestigious Distinguished Clinician Award. It recognizes physiatrists who have achieved distinction as teachers and clinicians. This profile originally appeared on the Center on Self-Determination at Oregon Health & Science University’s Web site.

When the third-year medical students in a Temple University School of Medicine physical diagnosis class were presented with patient Thomas Strax, they were pretty sure he might have some rehabilitative potential. Looking at the thin man sitting in a wheelchair in a white hospital gown, they saw that he obviously had cerebral palsy. The students decided that the patient may be able to “sell pencils on Broad Street,” and the patient was wheeled out.

A few minutes later, the guest lecturer arrived. Clothed in a dress shirt, tie and lab coat, he introduced himself as Thomas Strax, MD. To the students’ surprise, this guest lecturer was none other than the patient they had just dismissed minutes earlier as only having a future in a sheltered workshop. Strax, a physician who specializes in physical medicine and rehabilitation, had a message for these beginning doctors: “We see what we are looking for. We look for what we know. What we don’t know, we never see.”

Strax, who has cerebral palsy, has spent a lifetime challenging what people see in him. As the first student with a developmental disability to go through the New York City public school system, he knew early on that he wanted to be a physician. Others, however, were not so sure it was a good choice. At his first chemistry lab in college, he knocked over a three-gallon bottle of sulfuric acid. Although the chair of the department decided that chemistry could be waived, Strax insisted that he needed it to get into medical school. The chair agreed to give him a two-week trial period. With the help of a family friend in the medical supply business, Strax came up with a way to take the course. The friend built a lab set out of wood encasements to hold the test tubes and vials. Strax could use both hands to pour from a dropper or test tube, without disturbing the chemistry set. Thus he was able to perform the experiments and complete the course.

After completing college, Strax applied to medical schools. He was accepted at Albert Einstein Medical School, but had his heart set on attending New York University (NYU) School of Medicine, the alma mater of several family members. After five interviews, he finally was accepted. Concerned that this acceptance was due to family influences rather than merit, he spoke to a member of the Board of Directors of the medical center. “He answered, ‘What does it matter? Only you can get to the second year.’ And that’s true,” says Strax, pointing to his NYU diploma hanging behind his desk.

Strax did not need many special accommodations in medical school. He was permitted to take some of his exams orally, which he says helped him “think on his feet.” Advancements in medical equipment enabled him to function as a physician. One was the vacutainer, which allowed him to be able to draw blood easily using one hand. He also found the Kelly clamp very useful in functions requiring a high level of hand dexterity.

Strax has done everything from drawing blood and aspirating joints to delivering babies and treating shotgun victims in the ER. He went on to choose a field of medicine where his skills would allow him to be most successful. “When I was in college, the big joke was that I would be a neurosurgeon,” he says. “Well, I would never go into something where my disability would handicap me. I wanted to be very good at what I did.”

“Technology is essentially creating new opportunities for people who are intelligent and caring, but lacking in dexterity,” he explains. “That crazy idea of Tom doing neurosurgery someday seems possible, because of technology. Maybe there will be a laser attached to a computer that will be calibrated with my particular movements. Or, I might just speak and it will do.”

This use of technology that Strax describes is becoming less science fiction and more of a reality every day. However, even with advances in technology, there are still certain skills that prospective physicians withdisabilities may not have.

The “undifferentiated graduate” stipulation at most medical schools requires students to complete rotations in all areas of medicine. Strax disagrees with this requirement. “Most doctors, except surgeons, would not want to be in the OR holding a scalpel,” he says. “Many surgeons are not ready to handle some of the non-invasive medical issues in a serious cardiac emergency. The concept of doctors needing to do everything is invalid, and has been used as a barrier to admitting certain people with disabilities. All students must be able to meet certain basic requirements. However, there are numerous ways for people to accomplish things other than the regular ways.”

Strax has become an expert on accomplishing things by using methods “other than the regular ways.” In addition to his role as department chair, this pediatric and geriatric rehabilitation specialist is also vice president and medical director of the JFK Johnson Rehabilitation Institute, and the past president-elect of the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine. He says he lives by this proverb: “If there’s no wind, row.”

This article was written under the auspices of the Health Sciences Faculty Education Project at the National Center on Self-Determination at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU), which was funded by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Post Secondary Education.