Elizabeth R. Cary, MD (1937–2019)
July 2019—Elizabeth R. Cary, MD, state commissioner for Mississippi for the CAP Laboratory Accreditation Program, died on May 31 at age 81.
Dr. Cary was the chief of clinical pathology at the G.V. (Sonny) Montgomery VA Medical Center in Jackson, Miss. In 1994, the CAP appointed Dr. Cary as Mississippi state commissioner. The following year, the VA appointed her as regional commissioner for the national VA system.
“She was like a mentor,” said Cynthia Lynch, MD, who worked with Dr. Cary for more than 25 years at the Montgomery VA Medical Center. Dr. Lynch was the chief of pathology until March and is soon to retire. “If we had a question about the clinical lab, she was the go-to person. If we had a question about the CAP—an interpretation question or the latest in the changes—we would go to Dr. Cary.”
CAP president R. Bruce Williams, MD, said Dr. Cary was a “wonderful pathologist and person.”
“She was very much dedicated to the CAP as is evidenced by her long association with the LAP as the Mississippi state commissioner as well as being a VA commissioner,” Dr. Williams said. “She was a joy to work with and to know. She was always precise, accurate, and truly had common sense. She could be relied upon and was efficient.” He called her a model pathologist and person. “She will be missed.”
Dr. Cary would have celebrated her 50th year at the Montgomery VA Medical Center next year, Dr. Lynch said. “She came here in 1970. She was a real resource for this facility.”
As Valerie C. McDowell, of the Office of VA Pathology Regional Commissioner, Buffalo, NY, put it, “It’s the end of an era.”
Fred H. Rodriguez, Jr., MD, the Emma Moss professor of pathology at Louisiana State University School of Medicine, New Orleans, recalled his first impression of Dr. Cary as the “quintessential Southern lady” when he met her in the 1990s. “She could successfully juggle different sorts of tasks in a truly professional manner,” said Dr. Rodriguez, who attended several meetings with Dr. Cary in his former roles as director of pathology and laboratory medicine for the New Orleans VA Medical Center and as national director of pathology and laboratory medicine for the Department of Veterans Affairs.
“She knew what she was doing,” Dr. Rodriguez added. “The couple of times I visited and walked through the lab with her, it seemed that she had a good working relationship with the staff.”
Dr. Cary also served as the point person for the South Central VA Health Care Network (VISN 16), which is one of 18 veterans integrated services networks (VISNs) of the VA. “Other pathologists throughout the whole VISN would call her,” Dr. Lynch said, “and she was active on the national level within the VA. It’s a big loss, a lot of history.”
Dr. Cary acted as a resource for her laboratory colleagues even during her recent illness. “She wanted to keep in touch with us,” Dr. Lynch said. “Even though she was not feeling well, she would help us out by giving her opinion. She was giving her guidance up until the very end.”
Dr. Cary, of Jackson, is survived by her brother, sister, daughter, and two grandchildren. Her husband predeceased her.
—Amy C. Aquino