Tufts Medical Center News March 26- April 2

Reuven Rabinovici, MD, Leads Tufts Medical Center’s New Adult Trauma Service

Photos capturing the volatility of trauma hang from the walls of Reuven Rabinovici, MD’s office.  As chief of the new adult trauma service at Tufts Medical Center, he doesn’t shy away from introducing you to his life’s work.

“Trauma is not only a profession,  it’s a way of life,” said Rabinovici.  “Trauma doesn’t recognize time; it can hit you at any moment.  We are in the business of saving lives, and with all the daily emergencies, I feel privileged to be a trauma surgeon.”

“Trauma is not only a profession,  it’s a way of life,” said Rabinovici.  “Trauma doesn’t recognize time; it can hit you at any moment.  We are in the business of saving lives, and with all the daily emergencies, I feel privileged to be a trauma surgeon.”

Recognized for building a nationally renowned trauma program from the ground up at Yale-New Haven Hospital, Rabinovici is enthusiastic about spearheading Tufts Medical Center’s adult trauma service, which began seeing its first patients in late February and will seek certification in the next 12-18 months.

“Minutes, sometimes even seconds, determine whether a severely injured patient will survive,” said Rabinovici. “Thus, a trauma system must be extremely efficient and effective. This requires a team effort and a multi-disciplinary approach, beginning at admission and continuing through discharge.  We have a great team here at Tufts Medical Center, working together to build a great program, which provides cutting edge trauma care to the most critical trauma patients.”

Split-second decision-making, team work, and the necessity of depending on one another in life and death situations are all skills Rabinovici learned during four years of military service in the Israeli Defense Forces. “I’ve seen both the inflicting and healing of injuries.  This puts me in a better position to understand the importance of treating trauma victims,” he said.

After completing surgical training at Hadassah University Hospital in Jerusalem, Rabinovici continued to serve as an attending surgeon for that institution. In 1988, he joined the Neurobiology Research Division of the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences (USUHS) in Bethesda, Maryland as a research fellow.  He was also an international guest scholar at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center and Naval Hospital.

Following this work, Rabinovici continued his training as a clinical fellow in the Trauma and Surgical Critical Care Unit at Jefferson Medical College (JMC) in Philadelphia. Rabinovici was recruited to the trauma service at JMC upon completion of his training and served as an attending surgeon at the rank of associate professor of surgery.  He also led the trauma division research laboratory for more than five years. In 1997, Rabinovici joined Yale University School of Medicine as a Professor of Surgery and Chief of the Section of Trauma, Surgical Care, and Surgical Emergency. In this role, he shaped Yale’s  trauma center as well as its service for surgical emergencies.

His career is well balanced in education, research and surgical expertise. Rabinovici was actively involved in the training of many surgical residents, clinical and research fellows, medical students, paramedics and nurses.  He is involved in extensive trauma-related basic science and clinical research projects funded by both federal (NIH, NRL, DARPA) and private sources.

Clinically, Rabinovici has vast experience in treating the most complex trauma patients and has made significant contributions to the advancement of trauma care.  To date, his efforts have yielded 106 peer-reviewed publications, many book chapters, and presentations in numerous national and international meetings. Rabinovici serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Trauma and Shock and reviews papers submitted to many other surgical journals.

Rabinovici, recently moved to Brookline with his wife Louise, a ballet teacher.  The couple have been married for 29 years and have 23-year old twin daughters and a 21-year old daughter.  Rabinovici looks forward to continuing his career at Tufts Medical Center and building a program here that will help those affected by the volatility of trauma.

“The potential for the trauma service at Tufts Medical Center is extraordinary,” said Rabinovici.  “Working together will upgrade many systems in the hospital and will make us all better at the important work we do for people in need everyday.”

Tufts Medical Center Celebrates National Doctors Day

Friday, March 30 is National Doctors Day and to commemorate the event a reception will be held for all Tufts Medical Center and Floating Hospital physicians from 7:30 to 9:30 a.m. in the Proger 1 Board Room.  A light breakfast will be served.

On March 30, 1933, the first Doctors Day observance took place in Windsor, Georgia. Eudora Brown Almond, wife of Charles B. Almond, MD, presented a formal resolution to the Barrow County Medical Society Auxiliary in order to set aside one day each year to honor physicians. The auxiliary adopted the resolution and proclaimed the day “Doctors Day.”

The following year, the Georgia State Medical Alliance also adopted a resolution commemorating the day. Recognition of physicians became more widespread when the Women’s Alliance of the Southern Medical Association adopted the resolution in November 1935.

In 1958, the United States House of Representatives adopted a resolution commemorating Doctors Day, and in 1990, the House and Senate introduced joint legislation (S.J. Res. 366) that made March 30 a national day of observance. On October 30, 1990, President George H.W. Bush signed an executive order (it became public law 101-473) designating March 30 as “National Doctors Day.”

Leonard K. Ruby, MD, Retires

Leonard K. Ruby, MD, who has been a leading member of Tufts Medical Center’s Division of Hand Surgery for his entire 36-year career and is a Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at Tufts University School of Medicine, is retiring.

“He has been an invaluable mentor,” said Charles Cassidy, MD, Chairman, Department of Orthopaedics. “He was instrumental in my decision to study and practice hand surgery, and in my decision to join the Tufts Medical Center staff. He is a superb hand surgeon, scholar, and teacher—a doctor in the truest sense.”

Ruby graduated from the University of California Medical School, San Francisco in 1966.  He performed his surgical internship under the direction of William Silen, MD, first in San Francisco and then at Beth Israel-Deaconess Medical Center in Boston.  He spent two years as a Naval Medical Officer, including a one-year tour of duty in Vietnam.

Ruby returned to Boston in 1970 to become a member of the first graduating class of TUSM’s Orthopaedic residency. 

After completing a hand surgery fellowship under Dr. J.W. Tupper in Oakland, California, Ruby joined the Tufts Medical Center staff and TUSM faculty.  He served as Chief of Hand Surgery at Tufts Medical Center from 1975 through 2000 and established a first-rate hand surgery fellowship.

Ruby has had a distinguished career as an orthopaedic hand surgeon, serving on many national and regional committees.  He has published more than 60 peer reviewed articles, 20 chapters, books and monographs, 30 articles in non-refereed journals, received 10 visiting professorships, and has given more than 200 local, regional, national and international scientific presentations.  He has been directly involved in the education of more than 225 Tufts orthopaedic residents, 60 hand surgery fellows, and countless medical students.

Reminder: National Social Work Month

In celebration of National Social Work Month, Tufts Medical Center Social Work Services Department will host an information and resources table in the Atrium on Wednesday, March 28 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Tufts Medical Center’s Social Work Services Department was established in the early 1900s and is one of the oldest hospital social work departments in the country.  For more information about Tufts Medical Center’s  Social Work Services Department or to make a referral, please call ext. 5136.  To find comprehensive information about the role of social work in health care and other settings, go to www.HelpStartsHere.org .