By Keith Bush “Does anyone have a brain I can hold?”
Virtually bouncing off the multicolored walls on the third floor of the Dolores Hope Building, the exuberant David B. Kaminsky, MD, stands out among his lab-coat-wearing colleagues, one of whom delivers the requested brain into his hands. Several clicks of the camera and flashes of light later, the photo shoot ends and Kaminsky washes his hands, clearly having enjoyed the time in the spotlight. Not that Kaminsky wants for attention. He has achieved a measure of local celebrity through his involvement in charitable and social events and his prominent role in the Palm Springs International Film Festival. However, area residents may not realize how far this brainy pathologist’s reputation extends beyond the Coachella Valley. The American Society of Cytopathology recently selected him to receive its
highest honor, the Papanicolaou Award, at its annual scientific meeting in Salt Lake City, Nov. 5-9, in recognition of his contributions to the field. As a 10-year-old boy in Upstate New York, Kaminsky already knew he wanted a career in pathology. The study of disease fascinated him. “I asked the pathologist at the local hospital if I could observe an autopsy,” Kaminsky recalls. “He said I was too young.”
Despite this small setback, Kaminsky pursued his calling. Shortly after graduating from medical school, he planned to accept a position at a prestigious Boston hospital. That all changed when two of his former professors invited him to visit the Coachella Valley and tour its new medical center. The young pathologist got off the plane, looked around and said, “This is it.” Kaminsky’s East Coast career evaporated in the desert air. “I react immediately when something feels right,” he says. “It usually turns out to be correct.”
Kaminsky chuckles when told his statement sounds rather unscientific.
“I think of myself as a hybrid between a scientist and an artist,” he says. “I wouldn’t want to be one without the other.”
The scientist Kaminsky established an international reputation in cytopathology, the study of disease states within cells. In 1981, he published Aspiration Biopsy for the Community Hospital, the first
English-language monograph on the use of a needle and suction instead of a scalpel to extract cell samples for analysis. This helped revolutionize diagnostic procedures for many diseases. Kaminsky has shared his expertise with peers around the globe, pioneering the use of international teleconferencing as a teaching mode. In 1998 he helped launch “Africa Calls,” which electronically
reaches medical centers in developing African nations that would have difficulty sending physicians to international conferences. He has delivered keynote addresses at conferences in South Africa, Japan,
Italy and Russia.
Despite Kaminsky’s educational activities and his administrative duties as chairman of the pathology department, he devotes most of his workday at Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage to clinical work, which includes extracting samples in surgery and examining them microscopically for telltale signs. The degree of involvement in patient care weighed heavily in his decision to work in a community
medical center rather than a university. “I really wanted to influence patient care in a direct way,” Kaminsky says. “I felt I would have the opportunity to apply academic excellence in all phases of diagnosis and treatment.” Kaminsky expresses pride in becoming the first non-university-based recipient of the Papanicolaou Award in its 40-year history. “That really says a lot about how high-quality work can be done in smaller hospitals,” he says. Accomplishing all this may mean putting in 12-hour days and often working weekends, but Kaminsky finds time to nourish his passion for the arts. He was an executive producer of the Oscar-nominated short subject Still Kicking: The Fabulous Palm Springs Follies, and he has earned a cultural medal of honor from the Italian government for helping the best of that country’s cinema reach a broader
international audience. Occasionally, Kaminsky’s twin passions for science and art come together. He introduced an art-therapy program for cancer patients at EMC and documented it with the short film Paint Me a Future,
which he will present as part of a panel discussion on art and medicine at the American Society of Cytopathology meeting in Salt Lake City. Looking back at his decision to make his home in the Coachella Valley, Kaminsky has no regret. “It’s the best thing I ever did,” he says. “I’ve had the opportunity to help establish the medical center and
influence its development and the opportunity to be part of a community. I feel like I’ve enjoyed a wonderful life here. I love what I do. Every day is exciting. Every day is a challenge.” 
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