Dr. Anita Borges passed away yesterday. A heart attack took her from us. What a remarkable pathologist she was. I never met her, but in 2017 I watched her hour-long YouTube talk, โ๐ฆ๐๐ฟ๐ด๐ถ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐น ๐ฃ๐ฎ๐๐ต๐ผ๐น๐ผ๐ด๐ ๐ถ๐ป ๐๐ฎ๐น๐ถ๐๐๐ด๐ฎโ. Professors are often stubborn, their egos rarely allowing them to acknowledge mistakes in public. She was the exception. She could say without hesitation that โwe are wrong half the time,โ and yet always showed the ability to adapt with changing times.
Her most cherished moment, she recalled in a 2022 interview with ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ข๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฐ๐จ๐ช๐ด๐ต, was receiving the first Lifetime Achievement Award from the Indian Society of Head and Neck Oncologists. As the daughter of a cancer surgeon, she was delighted when the citation introduced her as โa pathologist who thinks like a surgeon.โ
Her students called her a mentor who poured her heart and soul into pathology. Her residents will never forget her famous one-liner: โWork like a pathologist, but think like a clinician.โ
With her vivacious personality and sharp sense of humour, the usual โRest in Peaceโ feels a bit out place. Instead, may her passion, humility, and wisdom guide students and colleagues to see more clearly, and accurately- beyond the microscope.
