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Robert Wood Johnson
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MEDICINE 45
Dr. Vinci served as department vice
chair for 17 years under Barry
Zuckerman, MD, then the Joel and
Barbara Alpert Professor of Pediatrics
and department chair. "Bob is the best
right-hand person anyone could have,"
says Dr. Zuckerman. "Our skills,
strengths, and interests complemented
each other. We could discuss anything,
and he had a part in everything we
accomplished."
Among Dr. Vinci's major achieve-
ments during his tenure as vice chair
was the creation, implementation, and
leadership of the highly regarded
Boston Combined Residency Program
in Pediatrics (BCRP), the first com-
bined pediatric residency program in
the United States. The combined pro-
gram was conceived in 1995 by two
chiefs of pediatric services and depart-
ment chairs: Dr. Zuckerman, at Boston
Medical Center/Boston University
School of Medicine, and David Nathan,
MD, at Boston Children's Hospital
(BCH)/Harvard Medical School. The
BCRP would merge the pediatric train-
ing programs of two major medical
schools and two renowned hospitals as
equal partners, each retaining its dis-
tinct missions. Trainees would benefit
from the shared strengths of BMC, a
community-focused urban public hos-
pital, dedicated to patient care, and
BCH, a private subspecialty hospital,
primarily focused on basic research
and the training of academic clini-
cians.
To achieve this feat, Dr. Vinci, then
pediatric training chair at BMC, col-
laborated with Frederick Lovejoy,
MD, William Berenberg Distinguished
Professor of Pediatrics and then direc-
tor of the Pediatric Residency Program
at Boston Children's Hospital. They
established the tone of the discussions,
the ground rules, and, ultimately, the
governance of the new program, says
Dr. Lovejoy. A year later, the program
was launched, with Dr. Vinci and Dr.
Lovejoy as codirectors, a role they
shared until 2013, when Dr. Lovejoy
stepped down from the position.
"Bob accomplished a truly remark-
able achievement: to garner the unfet-
tered respect of the faculty of Child-
ren's Hospital and Harvard equal to
that which he enjoys at Boston Uni-
versity and Boston Medical Center,"
says Dr. Lovejoy. "It serves as a glow-
ing example of the synergy that can
result from noble common purpose,
respectful collaboration, and a
Herculean educational model."
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