The brothers do not talk about the land of their birth (Myanmar means Burma in Burmese), where their mother and other relatives still live.

The dramatis personae are these: Pe Shein Wynn and Pe Thet Win. Pe Shein Wynn came to America in January 1989. He is the middle of three children, all doctors, who are married to doctors. Pe, which has no special meaning, likes to be called Wynn; the Shein means “born on Wednesday.” His brother Pe Thet Win, a year and one-half younger, followed him to the states in January 1992. He prefers to be known as Pe Thet; the Thet means “born on Friday.” The reason they spell Wynn/Win differently is just personal preference since there are no last names in the Burmese language.

The first time Dr. Wynn came to Valhalla he was bringing his father for treatment of liver cancer. Westchester Medical Center had been recommended by his psychiatrist cousin, Khin Maung Soe, M.D., from Middletown, N.Y. When he wasn’t visiting his father, Dr. Wynn was walking the campus. He came across two counselors who were able to give him the advice and later, the support he was seeking-Cathey E. Falvo, M.D., M.P.H., program director, international and public health, GSHS, and Ravinder Mamtani, M.D., professor of community and preventive medicine, School of Medicine. Six months after he took his father home to die, Dr. Wynn was matriculating in epidemiology/biostatistics and struggling to learn English.

“When somebody said to me, ‘What’s Up?’ I looked up. Or ‘what’s cooking,’ and ‘that’s cool’ even though I thought it was warm. I had to learn colloquial language,” he laughs. Now, steeped in the vernacular, there is “no problem”-except perhaps, keeping all his faculty appointments straight. He is a lecturer in the GSHS, and serves the School of Medicine as assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sci-ences and as clinical instructor in the Department of Community and Preventive Medicine. And since July 1998, he’s been practicing as an attending psychiatrist and assistant unit chief for inpatient services at the Behavioral Health Center of Westchester Medical Center.

Although still passionate about psychiatric research, Dr. Wynn decided he wanted to treat patients if he was going to stay in the U.S. So after completing a four-year residency in psychiatry at the Behavioral Health Center, Dr. Wynn proceeded to combine the epidemiological methods he learned from Health Sciences with his clinical interests. For instance, after discovering an association between asthma and out-of-control behavior, he presented “Is Bronchial Asthma a Predictor of Behavioral Dyscontrol?” at the American Psychiatric Association annual meeting two years ago. Last year’s contribution was “Fire Setting in Comorbid Adolescents.” For teaching him the basic epidemiological methods of clinical research, Dr. Wynn is eager to give “significant credit to my colleague Dr. Albert Lowenfels [professor of surgery], who has been very important in my life.”

One might say Dr. Wynn has created his own niche, especially with his secret weapon. He is the only staff psychiatrist in the Behavioral Health Center who treats patients with acupuncture, the alternative therapy he learned in Burma while practicing in the family clinic. To become certified in America, he signed on with Dr. Mamtani, by then his friend and colleague, who teaches the only medical school course in acupuncture approved for licensing healthcare professionals in the State of New York.

“I intend to do research combining acupuncture and pharmacology with psychotherapy,” he says. “I have all the weapons in my hand. I only need to launch them.”… Even though I have had other offers, I am going to stay here because of the leadership of Dr. [Joseph] English and Dr. [Lawrence] Levy [Department of Psychiatry chairman and medical director, respectively]. This department is going somewhere!”

“My brother and I had been very close, so when he came here I followed his pathway,” says Dr. Win. Only symbolically though since Dr. Win lives on the grounds of the VA Hospital at Montrose, N.Y., where his wife is an internist. The Wynns (she is a physiatrist) and their son live in a house in Hawthorne. Another difference is that he was single and his brother was already married when they left Burma. Dr. Win wound up meeting his wife in New York City, but she was no stranger; they had been classmates in medical school.

Plainly following in his brother’s footsteps, Dr. Win already has his master’s in epidemiology. As a student, he taught in the graduate school, assisting Paul Visintainer, Ph.D., program director of health quantitative sciences. His research career began in earnest after he was appointed assistant professor and research associate by the Mount Sinai School of Medicine. But when his itch to practice medicine resurfaced, Dr. Win never wavered in his resolve to train here. His residency in psychiatry ends in 2002.

Like his brother, Dr. Win retains the Health Sciences faculty appointment of lecturer. He teaches “Computers in Health Sciences” one night a week in the Learning Center, but not all by himself. Dr. Win gets a hand from Dr. Wynn, who sometimes has to go it alone when Dr. Win’s on-call duties get in the way. This core course-a requirement for all M.P.H. candidates-also provides the opportunity for them to see each other. Though they are both involved in teaching, it is Dr. Win who works one-on-one with the students. “I sit down with those who are really frustrated. They don’t have to become experts, but they should understand what they are doing,” he says.

After his residency, Dr. Win expects to stay in academic medicine, though he says, “it’s too early to tell now.” Preferring to discuss the past rather than the future, he says, “I particularly owe Dr. Visintainer for the research skills and knowledge he has shared with me. However, I’m finding that I like talking with patients, and I’ve learned that I can treat them without drugs, though I think a combination of drugs and therapy is probably best…”

When the conversation returns to his love for research, Dr. Win drops an unsolicited testimonial that should earn him an award: “In this academic environment, I could not be doing research without the M.P.H. degree, and I must acknowledge the help I’ve received from Drs. Visintainer, Falvo and [James] O’Brien [vice-dean of the GSHS]. I’ve been recommending this program to my friends. There are three people here already from Burma and now I’m working on a friend from England to come here, and his wife is considering an M.P.H. also.” So it comes as no surprise that when he is not recruiting or busy with residency duties, Dr. Win can be found doing clinical research on the treatment of depression with Robert Feinstein, M.D., associate professor of psychiatry and director of psychiatric residency training.