Yes, National Brothers Day is really a thing, first cropping up in Google searches in 2012. Yet for Darius Mehregan, M.D., and David Mehregan, M.D., brotherhood goes far beyond the annual May 24 observance. The doctors have worked practically side by side since 1993, when Darius joined David and their father, A.H. Mehregan, M.D., as clinical faculty for the Wayne State University School of Medicine’s Department of Dermatology.
The Mehregan trio worked together for eight years, until the elder Dr. Mehregan succumbed to a brain tumor in 2001.
“I think our father set the standard for us,” Darius said. “He was always actively involved with WSU and took good care of his employees. David and I were both heavily influenced by him.”
The brothers continued their father’s tradition for another 18 years, until David moved to Utah in January to be closer to his children.
“We were family, and we saw the laboratory and the department as being part of our family’s history, so we worked together to make sure both would continue to be a legacy. We share the same goals,” David added.
He is retired from his Wayne State University residency program director position, but still practices dermatopathology for InterMountain Healthcare Hospital in Salt Lake City. Darius remains the Hermann Pinkus, M.D. Chair and professor, and clinician educator of the WSU Department of Dermatology.
The brothers attended the University of Michigan as graduates, and even took one course together, in Honors Logic. David graduated from the WSU School of Medicine in 1986. Darius stayed at U of M for medical school and his Internal Medicine internship, before joining David at the Mayo Clinic for a dermatology residency, where they overlapped for two years. The two then completed fellowships in dermatopathology before joining their father, who owned Pinkus Dermatopathology Laboratory in Monroe, Mich. Dr. Pinkus was their father’s mentor and business partner, and a past chair of the department.
“So it was natural when we came back to join him, to start as associate clinical professors in the department, and begin teaching residents. From there, we stepped in to run the department in 2006, as chairman and program director,” David said. “We worked together every day in the laboratory and then, when we assumed the role(s) in the department, we still worked almost daily together. We typically did lunch together every day to discuss any issues that came up.”
David, who is older, and Darius, grew up mostly in Monroe, Mich., beginning when Darius was 4 years old. Before that, they lived in Shiraz, Iran, where Darius was born, Detroit and Edmonton, Alberta.
Medical school may have been written in the stars, but following in their father’s footsteps was a conscious choice.
“Growing up, we were both interested in science. Medical school seemed a natural choice. I considered Neurology and did research in developing rat globus pallidus (a substructure of the brain), but ultimately decided on Dermatology,” Darius said.
As for David: “I always tell people our parents did not make us pursue medicine. But, what I remember most is my father coming home every night, excited and happy from his daily work. It seemed like something I should consider.”