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Born: August 7, 1936 in Alexandria, Louisiana
Parents: Joseph F. C. Mertens and Lillie Mae Jones MERTENS.
Raised by: William Marion Jones and Rosa Lee Robinson JONES
Both my parents were deaf mutes who divorced in my youth. My mother brought me to live with her parents, William "Will" Marion Jones and Rosa Lee "Aunt Rosie" Robinson JONES, 8 miles north of Merryville, 1/4 mile south of Anacoco Creek and 2 miles east of the Sabine River. We lived in the white frame house on the hill, 100 yards west of the gravel (then) road, across the road from the 4-H Club Camp. My grandfather, Will, died when I was 3 years old. From that time until I graduated from Merryville High School, My Grandma and I lived together and farmed. She, my Merryville teachers and my fellow students were my main family. Ray and Florence Maricelli, with children Billie Jean, J. M. and Regina, were our close relatives. In high school, my next older brother, Daniel Mertens, lived with us part of the time.
Education: Merryville Schools, grades one through twelve. Senior Class President; football Co-captain, member of FBLA, 4-H Club and Math Club. I was a good student in agriculture, science, math and sports but not very interested in literature or history. Mr. C. H. Watson, and others, emphasized to us, go out there and be somebody.
Military: U. S. Air Force, September 1954 to June 1958, Airman First Class (E-4), honorable discharge. I did well in math and sciences in aptitude testing while in basic training, and was offered positions working as dental assistant, medical laboratory technician and air craft control. I was transferred to Spokane, Washington, December 1954. I was assigned to the Hospital Laboratoryat Fairchild Air Force Base, Washington, January 1955, as a medical technician, the beginning of my medical career. I learned to draw venous blood, count blood cells and analyze all body fluids for cells, bacteria and biochemicals for diagnostic use; some of the most fascinating work I had ever seen; I became captivated by the world in the medical laboratory and learned it with a passion. It seemed familiar and was like being in the best parts of the science classes again with Mr. R. L. Fortenberry, Mr. Emmett Meadows and Mr. K. Morrow.
Soon I was employed at Sacred Heart Hospital in Spokane, Washington as a week end Laboratory Technician in the Pathology department, doing the same type of work I was doing in the Air Force and being paid the most money that I ever made, $1.50 an hour. I talked with patients as I drew their blood for analysis, talked with doctors as I gave them test results for their patients and asked the physicians what they were doing with the patient and why, and talked with nurses, seeing how the patient was being cared for. I decided that I, too, could i>become a doctor.
I was recruited by Spokane Inland Empire Central Blood Bank to work full time as a Blood Bank Technician. My experiences there were life or death for people; I typed the patient's blood, matched and tested it for compatibility with donor blood, making blood ready to be used for transfusion. I did this work at night while still in the Air Force and continued both this full time and the hospital part time jobs while finishing the Air Force tour, throughout all of my college years and during the summer after the first year of medical school.
Our Merryville School and my grandma had prepared me with confidence, education, hard work, initiative and persistence.
College: Gonzaga University, Spokane, Washington, June 1958 to May 1961; Bachelor of Science degree in Biology (Premedical program).
Award: Best Science Student of the Year, 1961. I was told that, in order to get into medical school, I must make A's in the sciences and math; and A's and B's in non-science subjects, so I did. I could hear Coach A. C. Schiro encouraging me, keep on working hard Benny, you can do it.
Medical School: University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, September 1961-June 1965;Medical Degree.
In medical school, we learned anatomy and physiology. It was like being with Mr. C. C. Welborn, when he taught us reproductive physiology in live stock; now it was in humans. In pathology, we learned about diseases, like Mr. G. L. Heard, teaching me pustular folliculitis (acne), as he did in high school, from an article in Life magazine.
I did research in Medical School during the during the summers of 1963 and 1964 and a 12-week elective period my senior year. The work was for the Rapid Diagnosis of Group A, beta-hemolytic Streptococcal Infections. To do this I grew the pathogenic bacterium (from a case of severe "Strep Throat") in very large quantities, ruptured their cell walls and purified the carbohydrate antigen which I used to immunize rabbits, work very similar to being on the farm with my grandma, Rosa. I harvested the serum antibodies, purified and labeled them with a fluorescent dye. I was able to then identify the Streptococcal bacteria, within one hour, taken from the sore throat of a patient with a swab, using the fluorescent antibodies and a special microscope. Previously, 1 to 2 days were required to identify the infection.
Part of the reward for my work was a recommendation, by my medical school Professor, John C. Sherris, M.D., Ph.D., to the Mayo Clinic for a Pathology Residency. I had learned that I could be with the best.
Internship: U. S. Public Hospital, Baltimore, Maryland, July 1965 to June 1966.
This was a rotating internship, learning to care for hospitalized patients, in association with the University of Maryland and Johns Hopkins University.
Residency: Mayo Graduate School at The Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, July 1966 to May 1971.
In addition to my training in Anatomic Pathology and Clinical Pathology, I did research for 1 ½ years studying bleeding during and after prostate surgery, comparing patients with prostatic cancer to those with prostate enlargement without cancer. I measured the quantity of blood loss and studied the mechanisms of blood clotting and those of dissolving blood clots. I completed the study and published but did not complete the foreign language (German) requirement for the Ph.D. degree. The long, hard work taught me humility and gratitude.
Other accomplishments while at the Mayo Clinic:
Designed an instrument to simultaneously make 8 serial dilutions of serum, 1978.
Developed and published a method for measuring Fibrin Split Products (dissolved blood clots) in 1 hour (previous methods required 18 hours).
Developed and published a method to perform quantitative bleeding time, in studies for patients having hemophilia and other forms of excessive bleeding.
Developed a rapid procedure for measuring the virus which causes Hepatitis B (serum hepatitis).
I obtained Medical Specialty Boards from the American Board of Pathology in
Anatomic Pathology and Clinical Pathology, 1971.
Additional subspecialty Boards:
Medical Microbiology, 1978,
Cytopathology, 1991.
EMPLOYMENT as a Pathologist:
St. Joseph Hospital, Denver, Colorado, Director of Clinical Pathology, 1971 to 1978.
Supervised, interpreted and developed virtually all tests performed in the hospital laboratory.
Did research and lectures for pathologists, other physicians and nurses, and microbiologists about Antibiotic Testing against Bacteria 1972 to 1982, predominately for the national pathology teaching program, American Society of Clinical Pathologists, and American Association of Clinical Chemists; at least 200 lectures and demonstrations lasting from 1 hour to 5 days, from Hawaii to Chicago, in nearly all of the western and mid-western United States and some eastern and southern states and hundreds of lectures and teaching programs in our own hospital. Miss Opal Moore had sent me a post card from Chicago, when she was at a teachers convention and I was in high school, encouraging and giving me hope, "you can also be here one day."
Other professional activities:
About 25 publications in scientific journals concerning bacteria and antibiotics and procedures in clinical chemistry.
One Videotape and two booklets about testing bacteria and antibiotics.
One book on laboratory tests.
Developed procedures to quantitate any antibiotic in any body fluid, working with the Food and Drug Enforcement Agency (FDA).
Designed instruments for antibiotic testing; one that placed 1/500th of a teaspoon (100 microliters) of antibiotic solution into 96 wells simultaneously in 300 milliseconds; another that placed 10,000 bacteria in 5 microliters into each of 95 wells simultaneously. Miss Opal Moore came to mind on many occasions as I worked with mathematics and my pathology work. She convinced me that I could do it.
Chosen for NATIONAL POSITIONS:
Board of Editors, American Journal of Clinical Pathologists, 1981 (the largest international scientific pathology journal).
Council in Microbiology, American Society for Clinical Pathologists, 1975-1980.
Co-Director of Check Sample Program, Microbiology, American Society for Clinical Pathologists, 1980.
Upjohn's Laboratory Procedures, Woodland Hills, California, Director of Clinical Pathology, 1978 to 1980.
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Beverly Hills, California, Director of Microbiology, 1980 to 1981.
Samuel Merritt Hospital, Oakland, California, Directory of Clinical Pathology, 1981 to 1982.
Barberton Citizens Hospital, Akron, Ohio, Director of Pathology, 1982 to1986. I helped design a new, 17,000 square foot, $2 .5 million hospital laboratory and install a million dollar computer.
Grant Medical Center, Columbus, Ohio, Associate Pathologist and Director of Cytopathology, 1988 to 1995. Most of my work here dealt with the Diagnosis of Cancer, its extent and degree of aggressiveness and established a program for Fine Needle Aspiration for Cancer Diagnosis without surgery.
Retired on a 90-acre farm near Ashville, Ohio (south-central Ohio) with Janet Gail Perry, M.D., my wife of 24 years, and made a 25-acre arboretum. We, personally planted 1500 trees, shrubs, perennial flowers and had a 3/4-acre pond made, which contains cat fish, bass, perch and minnows. Our farm has deer, pheasants, hawks, owls, and other birds, and a few squirrels and with an occasional wild turkey.
I didn't even know the names of my paternal grandparents or great-grandparents. Since 1994, I have learned that they immigrated, in 1887, from Belgium to New Orleans, up the Mississippi and Red Rivers to Alexandria, Louisiana. My grandfather's name was Frank Mertens, his father was Peter Francis (Frank in English) Mertens; both are the same as my middle name. I've been able to trace six of the seven children, as they grew up in the United States and had thousands of descendants, all of whom are easy to keep straight with my computers and the Family Tree Maker CD-ROM. Thanks to Leona Padden, who taught us to keep our fingers at the home keys of the type writer (now computer). Genealogy has become a passion with me. Now I have even made the Merryville School Family Tree with Mr. G. L. Heard, Sr. as the adopted father, our excellent teachers as my adopted aunts and uncles, and my fellow students from 1942 to 1954 as my adopted siblings.