Thank you for visiting my website
A little about me..........
"It isn’t real work unless you would rather be doing something else"
"It is not in doing what you like, but in liking what you do, that is the secret of happiness"
James M. Barrie
I hope you will find this a convenient way to communicate and consult with me regarding non-urgent matters. As your primary care physician, I am the doctor with whom you will probably spend the most time and whose style and philosophy will help guide your overall health care choices and medical treatments. This is the reason it's important to find someone you are comfortable with personally, and whose experience, education and training make you feel confident. When choosing a PCP you will want to make sure that they have a broad knowledge of medicine and the resources to recommend specialists when needed. Make sure the doctor you have chosen, encourages you to ask questions, explains things clearly and treats you with respect. I sincerely hope I am functioning as that doctor and am meeting your needs.
For the past 9 years my regular practice has been closed to new patients, but my group has some excellent physicians who do have open practices, so please ask for a referral.
My Priority Care Practice is now also closed to new patients. You can read up on this by checking the link on the left.
I have been asked by patients if I'm considering retirement. My standard answer is:
Some background information:
I graduated from the University of Cape Town Medical School, South Africa in 1973 and completed my internship at Groote Schuur Hospital, the site of the world's first heart transplant.
I then spent 6 months doing a pediatric senior internship at The Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital in Cape Town.
From September 1975 until July 1976 I did postgraduate studies in London and traveled extensively in Europe.
In 1976 I became a member of the Royal College of Physicians (UK) and then came to the US where I completed my Internal Medicine residency at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital (now known as the Brigham and Womens Hospital) in 1976 -1978. This was the site of the world's first kidney transplant.
The American Board of Internal Medicine certified me in 1978.
Since 1979 I have practiced primary care Internal Medicine in the Watertown-Belmont-Cambridge area and for the same period have been a Harvard Medical School Clinical Instructor in Medicine and on the active staff at Mount Auburn Hospital, a H.M.S. affiliated community teaching hospital.
Practicing medicine is my passion. I am dedicated to providing my patients with the best possible care, within a warm and supportive environment. I believe that getting to know my patients as individuals is an integral part of treatment. Its hard to believe that I have now done this for 40 years and despite the stresses of practicing as a primary care physician at this time, I would do it again in a heart beat. This website may, at times, be lighthearted and my patients know that I like to hear a good joke or about a good book or movie, so although I don't take myself too seriously, I take the privilege and responsibility of practicing medicine very seriously.
"When I close the door to the exam room and it’s just the patient and me, with all the bureaucracy safely barricaded outside, the power of human connection becomes palpable. I can’t always make my patients feel better, but the opportunity to try cannot be underestimated."
This quote by Danielle Ofri, MD describes exactly how I feel about what I do.
"I think the joy of medicine is really the relationship with the patients over a long period of time".
Nitin S. Damle, president of the American College
My family and interests:
We have a blended family with 6 children: Greg, Kellen, Spencer, Julia, Dylan and Audrey. They range in age from 42 through 23. Three are married. One is getting married in October 2023. They are all terrific and I am really proud of each of them. I consider myself truly blessed and very fortunate to be their dad. My significant other, who holds it all together, is Abbie. Our grandchildren, Jonah, Levi and Talia, live in San Francisco. I'm also very grateful to have my two siblings and their families living in this area. They are a tremendous source of support. My father at age almost 92 passed away peacefully in his own bed, in his own home with dignity on July 31, 2014. In January 2010, after 64 years, he finally stopped practicing medicine as a general practitioner after he had a mild stroke. He was a tremendous role model and is missed. November 2022: he would have turned 100. Happy heavenly birthday Dad!
For the past 9 years my regular practice has been closed to new patients, but my group has some excellent physicians who do have open practices, so please ask for a referral.
My Priority Care Practice is now also closed to new patients. You can read up on this by checking the link on the left.
I have been asked by patients if I'm considering retirement. My standard answer is:
- My dad worked until he was 86 as a family physician
- I still love what I do every day
- My one son is now finishing his final year of medical school........I will leave it at that!
- So while it is true that after almost 50 years I have given retirement some thought, I plan on continuing to do what I love doing.
Some background information:
I graduated from the University of Cape Town Medical School, South Africa in 1973 and completed my internship at Groote Schuur Hospital, the site of the world's first heart transplant.
I then spent 6 months doing a pediatric senior internship at The Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital in Cape Town.
From September 1975 until July 1976 I did postgraduate studies in London and traveled extensively in Europe.
In 1976 I became a member of the Royal College of Physicians (UK) and then came to the US where I completed my Internal Medicine residency at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital (now known as the Brigham and Womens Hospital) in 1976 -1978. This was the site of the world's first kidney transplant.
The American Board of Internal Medicine certified me in 1978.
Since 1979 I have practiced primary care Internal Medicine in the Watertown-Belmont-Cambridge area and for the same period have been a Harvard Medical School Clinical Instructor in Medicine and on the active staff at Mount Auburn Hospital, a H.M.S. affiliated community teaching hospital.
Practicing medicine is my passion. I am dedicated to providing my patients with the best possible care, within a warm and supportive environment. I believe that getting to know my patients as individuals is an integral part of treatment. Its hard to believe that I have now done this for 40 years and despite the stresses of practicing as a primary care physician at this time, I would do it again in a heart beat. This website may, at times, be lighthearted and my patients know that I like to hear a good joke or about a good book or movie, so although I don't take myself too seriously, I take the privilege and responsibility of practicing medicine very seriously.
"When I close the door to the exam room and it’s just the patient and me, with all the bureaucracy safely barricaded outside, the power of human connection becomes palpable. I can’t always make my patients feel better, but the opportunity to try cannot be underestimated."
This quote by Danielle Ofri, MD describes exactly how I feel about what I do.
"I think the joy of medicine is really the relationship with the patients over a long period of time".
Nitin S. Damle, president of the American College
My family and interests:
We have a blended family with 6 children: Greg, Kellen, Spencer, Julia, Dylan and Audrey. They range in age from 42 through 23. Three are married. One is getting married in October 2023. They are all terrific and I am really proud of each of them. I consider myself truly blessed and very fortunate to be their dad. My significant other, who holds it all together, is Abbie. Our grandchildren, Jonah, Levi and Talia, live in San Francisco. I'm also very grateful to have my two siblings and their families living in this area. They are a tremendous source of support. My father at age almost 92 passed away peacefully in his own bed, in his own home with dignity on July 31, 2014. In January 2010, after 64 years, he finally stopped practicing medicine as a general practitioner after he had a mild stroke. He was a tremendous role model and is missed. November 2022: he would have turned 100. Happy heavenly birthday Dad!
- Travel: Love to travel, but on serious hold at present! Visited Budapest in October 2015 and London at the end of March 2016. Aruba in Feb 2017; Charleston and Savannah in April 2017; Poland in Oct 2017 and Mexico City to watch the Patriots play! Had a memorable trip to Italy (Rome and the Amalfi coast) in early October 2018 and visited Australia (Sydney, Great Barrier Reef and Melbourne) in late March 2019. It was a great experience. I met up with guys that I was at school with >50 years ago! In early February 2020 I visited Cape Town after an almost 5 year interval. Next up: The Lakes Region in northern Italy. Hopefully!
- Sports: Almost all, but especially the Patriots. I still occasionally follow rugby and cricket.
- Reading: Especially spy genre, but less fun since the end of the cold war! [Love John LeCarre and just read his recent posthumously published final novel]
Family genealogy is an interest.
Keeping this site and the Belmont Medical website current and meaningful is also something I enjoy doing. - Social Media: I enjoy keeping up with the news of my patients via Facebook. Does this blur the line of the doctor - patient relationship? Probably, but the following rings true: "As medical techniques have advanced, so should the communication strategies. If doctors want their patients to be well and stay well, they need to engage them and to do that, they need to be where they are. So the best reason for docs to be on Facebook is that it is where their patients are. Outside of an office visit, they will find no better platform for patient education and making a difference in their patient's level of knowledge than there."
- Movies: [but with a few exceptions usually not horror, sci-fi or martial arts] and some of my favorites include: Casablanca (which I saw on the "BIG" screen on its 70th. anniversary); The Godfather.1+2 [but not 3]; When Harry Met Sally; Annie Hall; Goodfellas; Apocalypse Now; Dr Zhivago; The Big Chill; Pulp Fiction; Gloomy Sunday; Out of Africa; Love Actually; and others I have seen and enjoyed include: The Departed; The Lives of Others; The Namesake; The Black Book; Eastern Promises; Michael Clayton; American Gangster; Atonement; No Country for Old Men; Charlie Wilson's War; The Kite Runner; The Counterfeiters; The Visitor; Slumdog Millionaire; Milk; The Reader; Doubt; The Wrestler; The Hangover; The Hurt Locker; Winter's Bone; Julie and Julia; Invictus; Up in the Air; Its Complicated; An Education; A Single Man; Crazy Heart; The Town; Today's Special; The Social Network; True Grit; The King's Speech; Black Swan; The Fighter; Win Win; Bridesmaids; The Help; Moneyball; Stupid Crazy Love; Hugo (in 3D); The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo; Midnight in Paris; War Horse; The Artist; A Separation; The Descendants; The Hunger Games; The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel; The Intouchables; Argo; Skyfall; The Silver Lining Playbook; The Sessions; Django - Unchained; Zero Dark Thirty; Searching for Sugar Man; The Way, Way Back; Fruitvale Station; Captain Phillips; Gravity; American Hustle; 12 Years a Slave; The Butler; August: Osage County; Dallas Buyers Club; Philomena; Chef; The 100 foot Journey; Gone Girl; The Judge; Unbroken; The Imitation Game; The Theory of Everything; Whiplash; Spy; Wild; The Martian: Bridge of Spies; Spotlight; Creed; Brooklyn; Come Hell or High Water; Allied; Nocturnal Animals; Arrival; Manchester By The Sea; Fences; Hacksaw Ridge; The Big Sick; Baby Driver; Dunkirk; Darkest Hour; Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, MI; Get Out; The Shape of Water; A Star is Born; Bohemian Rhapsody; Blackkklansman; The Green Book; Once upon a time in Hollywood; The Irishman; Knives Out; Richard Jewell; Parasite; 1917; The Two Popes; CODA; The Tender Bar; Where the Crawdads Sing; Mare of Easttown (7 episodes on HBO Max); The Undoing (6 episodes on HBO); The Queen's Gambit (limited series on Netflix); Tehran series; Schitt's Creek series; Chernobyl; Jack Ryan (series 1+2); Shtisel series; Ozark series; Bodyguard series; The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel series 1+2; A Place To Call Home (series on AcornTV); Peaky Blinders series; Goliath (series 1); Sneaky Pete series; The Crown series ; The Night Of series; The Night Manager series; Outlander series; Fargo series; Narcos - Mexico series; House of Cards series; Downton Abbey (series on Masterpiece Theater and more recently the movie); Homeland series; The Bureau series; Call my Agent series; Lupin series: Tehran series; The Slow Horses series; Bad Sisters series; Yellowstone series (including 1882 and 1923).......
- Music: [especially classic R&R (Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin), Motown (Smokey, Aretha, Gladys, Temps, Tops) and Soul (Sam, Otis, Marvin, Wilson)
- People I Admired: Winston Churchill, Nelson Mandela......
- Person I got emotional about when I saw him: Muhammad Ali...
- Things I can't stand: racism, bigotry, extremism, bullies, people who take themselves too seriously (and that includes some doctors!).....
"Money is honey, but health is wealth"
Patricia Salber
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