Mayo Alumni Magazine 2006 Winter - MC4409-0106 - Mayo Clinic

The Litin family: Sam, Jolene, Cassie and Dr. Scott Litin.
“Dr. Litin’s work with young physicians
has helped many find the right career
path. He’s been a role model for me
for nearly 20 years, ever since I worked
with him as a medical student at a
point in my career when I was trying to
decide what to do,”she adds. “He
helped me determine what was worth
doing in my career, and helped me do
what was needed to get there.”
Dr. Litin describes it as opening
doors. “I’ve been lucky. During my
career a number of people opened
doors for me,”says Dr. Litin. “It’s
exciting and fulfilling for me now to
help open doors for others. I enjoy
watching them seize these opportunities
and become successful.”
His clinical interests lie in atrial
fibrillation, clotting disorders, and
anticoagulation, and he has written
extensively in these areas. Dr. Litin
says his participation in a large
multi-center research trial in stroke
prevention in atrial fibrillation in the
1980s introduced him to many energetic
and outstanding researchers and
stimulated his interests in clotting
disorders and anticoagulation. A portion
of his current clinical duties are spent in
the Thrombophilia Center, where he
consults on patients with a variety
issues pertaining to thrombosis and
anticoagulation.
Dr. Litin has received many awards
from Mayo Clinic including the Henry S.
Plummer Distinguished Physician
Award, the Outstanding Faculty Award,
Outstanding Course Director Award,
and the Distinguished Clinician Award.
He has been active as a local and
national leader in the American College
of Physicians and was recognized with a
Laureate Award from the Minnesota
Chapter. In 2002 he was awarded
Mastership in the American College of
Physicians.
Dr. Litin edits the referring physician
newsletter Clinical Update and served as
medical editor of the 1,400-page Mayo
Clinic Family Health Book. He has also
been an associate editor of Mayo Clinic
Proceedings for more than seven years.
While editing Mayo Clinic Proceedings,
Dr. Litin has been responsible for
overseeing three sections: Residents’
Clinics, Book Reviews, and Concise
Reviews for Clinicians. William Lanier,
M.D., (Anesthesiology ’84) editor-inchief
of Proceedings says that, of all the
sections of the journal, these three have
the highest percentage of new and
developing authors.
“This is just the way Dr. Litin wants
it,”says Dr. Lanier. “He gets a real thrill
out of recruiting new authors and
helping them get some of their first
publications into print. The time and
effort Dr. Litin gives these authors is
astounding. He also spends considerable
effort in bringing new reviewers into the
22 Mayo Alumni Winter 2006