BVA ARCHIVE: Profiles
Interview by Stephanie Martin
John Rubin (BVA President 2003/4)
John, can you tell us about your voice journey? How did you recognize the siren call of the voice world?
When I was 6 or 7 years old, I saw a science fiction film on TV, in which the protagonist was a young plastic surgeon who was involved in facial reconstruction. At that moment in time it became clear to me that my future path involved medicine and in particular surgery. If that did not cement my thinking enough, around that time there was a popular show called Dr. Kildare, with Richard Chamberlain as the good doctor. One day on my daily car pool journey to school, my best friend's older sister announced that she thought I looked like Dr. Kildare. Thus it was a done deal - what else could I have thought of doing with the rest of my life?
Julian McGlashan once said that a pivotal influence on his decision to go into voice as a specialism was his ability to dissect the ovary from a worm - what influenced you?
Regarding my journey into voice, it is not quite as straightforward. When I was appointed to my year of internship in Surgery, prior to beginning my ENT Residency, I was not quite as quick off of the mark as some of the other Surgical Interns at putting in my request for holidays. I found myself with all of my year's holiday scheduled in August of the year, the year only beginning in July. I was hugely rested by the end of August, but by the following July and the start of my Residency in ENT I was completely beleaguered. I suspect that I was one of the dullest ENT Residents in the history of the Manhattan Eye & Ear during my fist 6 months there.
Then I rotated onto a clinical rotation at Lenox Hill Hospital, an up market New York Hospital, and spent 3 months under the tutelage of a laryngologist named Wilbur James Gould (the doyen of Laryngology). My entire approach to ENT changed during that time to the point that, when I returned to the Eye & Ear all of my Consultants scratched their heads and wondered what had gotten into mine.
Those of us who have heard you speak know that it is not an RP accent that we are hearing and it's not Lloyd Grossman either, so where is it from?
My accent is certainly not RP - its closer to Robert DeNiro in Taxi Driver! My parents were brought up in the Boston area. I was raised in northern Connecticut and then went to college in New Hampshire. I also spent 10 years working in Manhattan and the Bronx; I would say my accent is best described as: Connecticut Yankee meets the New York Yankees.
Moving from one continent to another requires a considerable leap of faith - why did you make the journey and has it been worthwhile?
Arriving in Lewisham on a wet December and then into a rented house that Kristine described as looking like it came out of a Vincent Price horror movie, was not necessarily conducive to a smooth landing; that said the prospect of taking the Lewisham High Street roundabout was somewhat safer than Gun Hill Road in the Bronx, my previous hang out!
Seriously, I would have to say that my early discovery of the British Voice Association, and the open- armed welcome that I received from many of its members, helped dispel any winter gloom; not to mention Tom Harris popping over on our first evening with a bottle of bubbly!
Do you feel temporarily transplanted or a definite fixture here?
I feel like a pretty solid fixture here. Having recently sworn an oath to Queen and Country has certainly helped to harden the bond.
Why your interest in and commitment to the BVA specifically?
I feel very strongly about the importance of the BVA. To my mind it is an organization unique in the world of voice. The warm relationship of its many multidisciplinary members seems to me to lead to a closeness that I have not witnessed in other comparable societies. The mixture of various individuals actively learning from one another, whilst caring for each others' patients/ clients/ students, is a heady one, akin to a Jamie Oliver ragout.
The Presidency of the BVA brings with it considerable responsibilities - can you identify those that you find most, and conversely least, onerous?
The Presidency of the BVA is a great honour and a privilege, but of course it carries with it a weight of responsibilities. There are many pleasurable duties, including attending many of the courses; perhaps the more pleasurable is bestowing the Gunnar Rugheimer award to a meritorious individual who has served the BVA well. Perhaps the most difficult is co-signing all of the cheques- being a good New Englander at heart!
Who are your heroes in the world of voice and why?
My 'heroes in oice' is easy. Wilbur (Jim) Gould is without doubt one of them, having been my mentor and then friend for many years. He brought the multidisciplinary world of voice together when he developed the Voice Foundation in New York. Less well known, perhaps, is the fact that he was a wonderful doctor.
Another personal hero is Manuel Garcia, whose use of the mirror for laryngeal examination will be honoured by the BVA in its theme for PEVOC 6 in August 31-September 3 2005: 'Mirroring the Voice:150 years of Voice Care'. He exemplified the 'multidisciplinary way' that we now strive for - I hope that all of the members of the BVA mark their diaries to attend this historic conference at The Royal Academy of Music where Garcia taught for 20 years.
What would you see as your greatest success professionally?
My greatest success professionally heretofore is, in my opinion, playing a small role in helping develop the National Institute of Deafness and other Communicative Disorders (NIDCD), the branch of the NIH involved in funding research in communicative diseases, by being a member of the Board of Directors of the Friends of the NIDCD.
In contrast what do you view as your greatest failure/disappointment?
By way of contrast, my greatest disappointment has been, I think, professionally, not having found the time to undertake a Ph.D.
Is the world of voice generally healthy or does it need a transfusion?
I feel that the world of voice is healthy. The science has come of age, as has the technology for voice evaluation. What is always needed, as in every major enterprise, is a continued transfusion of young enthusiastic individuals to keep us on our toes, and advance the field.
If you had a crystal ball what do you predict will be the biggest breakthrough in otolaryngology by 2050?
My crystal ball suggests that the biggest breakthrough in Otolaryngology will come about through the explosion in information in genetics in combination with computer technology, both of which are still in their relative infancy. In combination I believe that by 2050 regeneration or redevelopment of neural tissue such as the hair cells in the inner ear will be commonplace.
If you could single out one pivotal influence on your career, who or what would it be and why?
The single most pivotal influence on my career came about in the Spring of 1973, when I tried out for and failed to become a 'first tenor' in the Dartmouth 'Injuneers' a small choral subgroup of our Dartmouth glee-club where I sang as tenor, that was scheduled to tour the country over the summer of that year. On the 'rebound' I successfully applied to join a small group of students reading English Literature at UCL for the '73-'74 academic year. This event changed the course of my life, introducing me both to England and to my future wife Kristine.
If you had a professional wish list what would it contain?
I will give you the top 2 on my professional wish list: 1. To incorporate Phoniatrics/Advanced Laryngology training as a routine aspect of years 5,6 in the new ENT Training program. 2) To expand funding for research into Communicative Disorders in UK/ Europe.
And finally John, has your career to date measured up to expectations?
Ah, the 'last but not least' question. As people who know me well might tell you, I am a little bit of an obsessive when it comes to patient care, and I have always been slightly uncomfortable in 'snatching' away any time for teaching and academic pursuits, which are also important to me. I guess that my answer is a qualified 'yes' but with the proviso that I wish there were more hours in the day.
