PRESIDENT’S PAGE
FINDING A CAREER IN MEDICINE From a young age, Dr. Beth Kassanoff-Piper has always had a desire to help
others. Along with a strong love of science, Kassanoff-Piper set off on a path
that would utilize both qualities—medicine.
Becoming a doctor was not always
the clear choice for Dr. Kassanoff-
Piper. Shortly before leaving for
college, her grandfather inspired
her to find a career in medicine. Dr.
Kassanoff-Piper’s own father received a
doctorate degree in education, but her
grandfather had a different idea for what
kind of doctorate Dr. Kassanoff-Piper
should pursue. “He said, ‘I want you to be
one of those doctors that does somebody
some good,’” she recalled with humor.
“Because he said that and because I just
adored him, I did start out in zoology and
in a pre-med track,” Dr. Kassanoff-Piper
said.
Dr. Kassanoff-Piper attended Louisiana
State University (LSU). But it wasn’t until
a class trip to a medical school in her first
year of college that she realized medicine
was her calling. “We got to go visit the
classrooms. We got to go see the anatomy
lab,” Dr. Kassanoff-Piper remembers
nostalgically. “I think it just clicked with me
then that that was what I wanted to do.”
From there, she would forge her medical
career.
4 DALLAS MEDICAL JOURNAL • January 2021
After graduating from LSU, Dr. Kassanoff-
Piper was then faced with deciding where
to attend medical school. While she
applied and interviewed at a handful of
schools, she ultimately chose to go to UT
Southwestern Medical School in Dallas.
“To me, it just had the best feel to it,” she
said. “Everybody was just supportive. They
weren’t afraid to laugh at themselves. They
didn’t take themselves overly seriously,
and so it felt like this great place that
you’re excited to go to every day.” And Dr.
Kassanoff-Piper continued to feel this great
sense of community and encouragement
as she moved through medical school. “It
was a ton of work and it was exhausting,
but I definitely made the right choice. That
was the best place to go.” Upon graduation
from UT Southwestern, Dr. Kassanoff-Piper
was awarded the prestigious Ho Din Award.
This academic award seeks to “recognize
those who exemplify the unique personal
qualities embodied in all great physicians
– knowledge, understanding, and, most
of all, compassion” and is the highest
honor given to an outstanding senior at UT
Southwestern Medical School.
In the years following, she left the state
for her residency at Barnes Hospital in
St. Louis, Missouri, before returning to
Dallas to practice. Dr. Kassanoff-Piper has
been practicing internal medicine for 21
years. “What I love about internal medicine
is that you get to build relationships
with people over time,” she said. “I see
families where I see 10 people in the
family, and a lot of them I’ve taken care
of for the full 20 years. I just love that.”
Dr. Kassanoff-Piper values having an easy
rapport with all of her patients. “It’s great.
I think it’s the perfect thing for me.”
As Dr. Kassanoff-Piper settled on
the best field of medicine for her, she
remembered how influential her teachers
and mentors were in helping her carve
By Samantha Sabio
Photos by Darnell Porter
“It was a little bit
surprising and such an
honor to feel like my
peers thought that I could
do a great job at this.”