Augustine L. Perrotta, DO
On November 24, hematologist/oncologist Augustine L. Perrotta, DO, died, days before his 81st birthday. Ironically, Dr. Perrotta died of renal cell carcinoma, presenting with metastasis to the spine, a topic about which he had written and lectured extensively. Clinical Professor of Medicine at Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine, Dr. Perrotta was Chairman of the Department of Medicine and Chief of the Section of Hematology/Oncology at Henry Ford Hospital in Warren, Michigan, for 10 years prior to his retirement.
Doctor and Author of Short Stories
Dr. Perrotta was the first fellowship-trained hematologist in the osteopathic medical profession under the direction of Dr. Clement A. Finch at the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle. Anticipating the blending of the subspecialties of hematology and medical oncology, he was awarded a fellowship in medical oncology at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York under the direction of Dr. Irwin Krakoff.
A graduate with honors from the Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine, Dr. Perrotta served a rotating internship at Detroit Osteopathic Hospital and an internal medicine residency at Oklahoma Osteopathic Hospital in Tulsa.
Dr. Perrotta was an author, coauthor, or senior author of 50 abstracts, articles in peer-reviewed journals, and a chapter in two editions of Foundations of Osteopathic Medicine, entitled “Osteopathic Considerations in Oncology.” His retirement project was the publication of 15 medically oriented short stories entitled A View From the Inside. The nonfiction book is about public and private personalities and characters he had encountered in his personal and professional life and his connection to them. It was written for a general audience and included, among others, Babe Ruth; Ezzard Charles; John J. Bonica, MD; E. Donnall Thomas, MD; and Andrea Bocelli. It was highly recommended in a book review by Ronald Piana in The ASCO Post (October 25, 2015). ■
