Dr. Michael Lazarus was initially trained as a pharmacist, following the example of his father, a North Carolina druggist who encouraged him toward medicine. After earning his medical degree from Tulane in 1963, he completed an internship at Emory and then served in the U.S. Navy, where he gained early exposure to public health. Returning to training in New Orleans, Lazarus first encountered the emerging practice of dialysis—then limited to only a few patients and largely in support of kidney transplantation. Encouraged by colleagues, he moved to Boston in 1969 to join the Brigham, one of the few centers developing chronic dialysis programs. In this 2009 interview, Dr. Lazarus offers a vivid account of the transformation of dialysis from an experimental therapy to a widespread outpatient treatment, tracing his career from these early Boston programs to national leadership roles at National Medical Care and Fresenius Medical Care.
