In Memoriam: Lewis Mark Slater, MD

Lewis (Lew) Mark Slater, MD, passed away in New Jersey on August 21, 2022, at the age of 85. He was a former professor of medicine and pathology in the Department of Medicine at the UCI School of Medicine.

Dr. Slater joined UCI in 1975 as a physician-scientist. He served as a practicing hematology/oncology sub-specialist and ran an active research laboratory. He and colleague Steve Armentrout, MD, the first hematology/oncology subspecialist at UCI School of Medicine, founded what would eventually become the Division of Hematology/Oncology in the Department of Medicine.

During his tenure at UCI, Dr. Slater served as interim division chief of the Division of Hematology/Oncology and as the section chief at the Veterans Administration – Long Beach Healthcare System. As a physician-scientist, he maintained his lab until the last seven years of his career. He retired from UCI in 2019.

Dr. Slater studied cancer chemotherapy, tumor immunology, lung cancer, leukemia and lymphoma. His research was related to tumor immunology and focused on tumor cell modification and pharmacologic methods to promote tumor immunity.

He was a talented, passionate and generous faculty member. During his lengthy career, Dr. Slater taught and mentored many generations of fellows, trainees and junior faculty. He will be remembered for his kindness toward junior faculty, his dedication to training exceptional clinicians and hematology/oncology sub-specialists and for never being timid about expressing his opinion.

Before joining UCI, Dr. Slater worked as a clinical associate in the United States Public Health Service at the Baltimore Cancer Research Center, followed by a faculty appointment at Columbia University, Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York.

Dr. Slater obtained his medical degree at the University of Vermont. He completed his internship at the US Public Health Service Hospital in Staten Island, followed by a residency in internal medicine at the Upstate Medical Center in Syracuse. Dr. Slater also completed a fellowship in hematology/oncology at the University of Rochester College of Medicine & Dentistry in Rochester, New York.

After a successful 44-year medical, teaching and academic career, Dr. Slater retired. He later encountered health issues that required him to relocate to the east coast to be near family.

Dr. Slater is survived by his wife, Grace Slater, his children and his grandchildren.