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, “𝗦𝘂𝗿𝗴𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗣𝗮𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝘆 𝗶𝗻 𝗞𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘆𝘂𝗴𝗮”. Professors are often stubborn, their egos rarely allowing them to acknowledge mistakes in public. She was the exception. She could say without hesitation that “we are wrong half the time,” and yet always showed the ability to adapt with changing times.
Her most cherished moment, she recalled in a 2022 interview with 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘗𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘪𝘴𝘵, 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 “a pathologist who thinks like a surgeon.”
Her students called her a mentor who poured her heart and soul into pathology. Her residents will never forget her famous one-liner: “Work like a pathologist, but think like a clinician.”
With her vivacious personality and sharp sense of humour, the usual “Rest in Peace” 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.