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46 Robert WoodJohnson
I
MEDICINE
The Cat In The Hat
W
hile Dr. Vinci was implement-
ing the BCRP and serving as
vice chair, he continued to direct the
division of pediatric emergency medi-
cine and the Pediatric Emergency
Fellowship. "Bob wears three major
hats, with more underneath," says
Barbara L. Philipp, MD, professor of
pediatrics, BUSM, and medical direc-
tor, The BirthPlace, BMC.
Dr. Philipp's description of her resi-
dency classmate, longtime friend, and
colleague could certainly evoke Dr.
Seuss's Cat in the Hat: a remarkable
juggler, with a keen sense of humor and
a gift for brightening children's lives.
"He works very hard, and he gets
things done because he is very connect-
ed and respected and thoughtful," says
Dr. Philipp. "He puts lots of effort and
thought into things, so when he sug-
gests something different or new, peo-
ple listen. He takes an idea and makes
life better for lots of people."
Emergency medicine was a newly
recognized specialty in 1986 when Dr.
Vinci led the creation of the pediatric
emergency medicine program, fol-
lowed two years later by the introduc-
tion of another of his innovations,
BMC's fellowship in pediatric emer-
gency medicine. "Establishing a divi-
sion of pediatric emergency medicine
created greater awareness of the role
of specially trained faculty in provid-
ing care to acutely ill children," says
Dr. Vinci. "It provided the opportuni-
ty to develop and provide the special
skills necessary to meet the needs of
children with complex disease and to
understand the priorities for the man-
agement of children in emergency
departments, while understanding the
special role of educating families."
Kimball Prentiss, MD, completed
the Pediatric Emergency Medicine
Fellowship program at BMC. She now
serves on the faculty at Baystate
Medical Center in Springfield, Mas-
sachusetts, practicing pediatric emer-
gency medicine and teaching emergen-
cy medicine residents as well as resi-
dents in pediatrics and fellows in pedi-
atric emergency medicine.
"Bob is very kind, and he has a
great sense of humor," says Dr. Prentiss,
"but he's a daunting teacher, because
he seems to remember not only every
detail of every patient he ever saw, but
also everything about your patients.
Every case becomes an opportunity to
review current evidence-based medi-
cine and best practices.
"In pediatric emergency medicine,"
adds Dr. Prentiss, "you have about
three seconds to gain the trust of the
family of your patient. As an experi-
enced clinician who still values the
importance of bedside care, Bob is
very effective in modeling this unique
skill." As a beginning fellow, Dr.
Prentiss was both astonished and
delighted when Dr. Vinci offered to be
her research mentor. "With everything
else he had to do, it was still very
important to him to continue to teach
and mentor his trainees," she says.
"He always made you feel like you
were the only person on his agenda
for the entire day."
Service:
An Important Part
of What Physicians Do"
T
wo highly successful community-
focused programs, The Kids
Fund and Kids Can't Fly, demonstrate
Dr. Vinci's belief that "service is an
important part of what physicians
do."
In 1984, Dr. Vinci and his residency
colleague Dr. Philipp founded The
Kids Fund, a fundraising organization
that works in collaboration with the
hospital's Office of Development.
Over the years, the fund has helped
patients in a wide range of ways: pro-
viding nutritional support for a
patient's family; paying for a taxi ride
home from the hospital; buying anti-
biotics, eyeglasses, or a medical de-
vice; or providing partial tuition for a
city-bound child to go to summer
camp. "This program continues as
largely unsung in a city where the
Jimmy Fund is much better known,"
says Dr. Pelton, "but it provides for
very real, everyday needs for children
A L U
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R O
F
I
L E
"E
stablishing a division of pediatric emergency medicine
created greater awareness of the role of specially trained faculty
in providing care to acutely ill children. It provided the
opportunity to develop and provide the special skills necessary
to meet the needs of children with complex disease and to
understand the priorities for the management of children in
emergency departments, while understanding the special
role of educating families."
--Robert J. Vinci, MD '80
"