Rheum After 5: Dr. Stuart Kassan, Golf Enthusiast

About 10 years ago, Stuart S. Kassan, MD, FACP, MACR, was playing in a local golf tournament at the Denver Country Club. Each player had to tee off over a water hole in front of roughly 100 club members. His ball was the only one that landed in the water—twice.

He was introduced to golf as a teenager by his mother, who was a club champion at the family’s local country club in White Plains, N.Y. He says his best score is 84, and his handicap, in the mid-teens, is respectable. A true devotee, Dr. Kassan has attended the Masters Tournament at the Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia for the past 18 years.

“The Masters is one of the most special places in all of golf because it capsulizes a perfect environment, both in the sport sense and in the moral sense,” says Dr. Kassan. “It replicates the simplicity of life as it was in the 1930s. There are no electronics on the course. Everything is done by hand. People are as nice as they possibly can be to each other, which in this day and age is unique.”

Medicine Top Priority

Photo 1: Dr. Kassan and his wife, Gail, standing in the Amen Corner at the Masters Tournament in 2003.
Photo 2: Dr. Kassan and his daughter, Merrill, at a Master’s Tournament in 2009.
Photo 3: Fly-fishing in 2010 for bone fish in the Bahamas.
Photo 4: Fly-fishing in 2012 on the South Platte River in Colorado.

A master rheumatologist, Dr. Kassan is also a distinguished clinical professor of medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine (CU Medicine), Denver, chief medical officer at MPP Infusion Centers, Lakewood, Colo., and the 2020 recipient of the ACR’s distinguished service award.

Dr. Kassan graduated from George Washington University School of Medicine & Health Sciences, Washington, D.C., in 1972. The following year, he completed an internship in medicine and, in 1974, an assistant residency in medicine, both at Emory University, Grady Memorial Hospital, Atlanta. From 1974–76, he served as a clinical associate, clinical immunology section, laboratory of microbiology and immunology, at the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Md. In 1978, he completed a fellowship in rheumatology at the Hospital for Special Surgery, Joan & Sanford I. Weill Medical College of Cornell University, New York.

That same year, he moved to Denver to head the Rheumatology Clinic at the Veterans Administration Hospital (renamed the Rocky Mountain Regional VA Medical Center, Aurora, Colo.) and also began working half time in private practice at Colorado Arthritis Associates, Lakewood. In 1980, he began working full time at the practice, where he remains today.

Among his professional interests is academic medicine. Since 1978, Dr. Kassan has climbed the ranks from assistant clinical professor of medicine at CU Medicine to his current position, which he obtained in 2013.

Medicine will always take priority for Dr. Kassan. “I love my patients and retirement is out of the question,” he says, adding that he also has fond memories from his teenage years of accompanying his father on house calls to patients. “My father was very passionate about medicine. He was my idol in medicine.”

Awesome Experience

While in college and medical school, Dr. Kassan didn’t have much time for golf. It wasn’t until the 1990s—after his children were grown—that he began playing the game again. This time around, he found a partner—his wife, Gail. The couple began playing at hot spots around the country, including golf courses at Pebble Beach, Calif., and Kiawah Island and Harbour Town, S.C.

“It always intrigued me how people could get to go to the Masters Tournament,” says Dr. Kassan, who plays golf three times a week and belongs to country clubs in Denver, Charleston, S.C., and Lancaster, Pa. “After talking to golf professionals and various friends, we’ve been fortunate enough to go to the event on a continuing basis.”

His wife attended the first tournament with him back in 2002. “We were in total awe of the whole experience,” he says. “It capsulizes perfection in a small slice of life for four days, usually in the spring. It’s such a special place to go and special event to participate in.”

Among his favorite tournament experiences was gaining access for himself and his then 16-year-old son to the clubhouse at the famous Augusta National Golf Club. “The time spent there was a virtual dream come true,” he says. “Having lunch among the players and sports reporters was unforgettable!”

Decompress

When he’s off the course, Dr. Kassan spends time in the water—fishing. One of his former colleagues turned him on to fly-fishing 25 years ago.

“It’s somewhat technical in terms of the equipment you use and your ability to cast,” he says, adding that Colorado is “incredible” for fly-fishing.

Click here to listen to Dr. Kassan’s interview.

One time, his wife accompanied him on a fishing trip. After a brief tutorial on fly-fishing, she ended up catching all the fish that day—beginner’s luck, says Dr. Kassan.

As he starts to cut back on his work hours, he and his wife plan to visit more golf resorts around the country, to continue fishing and to visit his children and two granddaughters on the East Coast.

“Golf and fishing really complement my life,” says Dr. Kassan. “Aside from family time and medicine, you still need time for yourself to decompress and to not think about anything else.”