The Tufts Medical Center at Tufts Medical Center welcomed a new member to its staff this past May when it brought in Emory Petrack MD, FAAP, FACEP as its new Chief of Pediatric Emergency Medicine.
Who is he?
Happily married and a father of two, Petrack is originally a native of Chappaqua, New York. He earned his degree in medicine from the State University of New York Downstate Medical Center and then worked in the Pediatrics department at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx. Next, he and his family moved to Cleveland where he provided care at Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital and Cleveland Clinic.
However, Petrack’s roots in the Northeast ultimately proved to be a large factor in his decision to come to Tufts Medical Center. “My family is still on the east coast in the NY/NJ area and my family has been coming out to Cape Cod for decades every summer so we love the area. I actually got my Master’s degree in Public Health here some 30 years ago and lived in Boston for a year. So I love the area and decided to come explore the position and ultimately one thing led to another.”
Since moving, Petrack says that, despite the leap of faith required when making a life decision of this scale, he has enjoyed a fabulous transition from his life in Cleveland to his new life at Tufts Medical Center. “I am so impressed by the caliber of the people I have been meeting. Those in leadership positions, the nurses we work with, the child life specialists, it has just been great.”
One of Two Passions
However, despite all of his successes in the field of medicine, Petrack revealed that, as a high school student, medicine was one of two passions that he dreamed of pursuing professionally. The other passion? Flight. Flying since 13 years old, he first piloted a plane solo on his 16th birthday and got his private license a year later.
So when his high school graduation neared, Petrack had to make a decision: to pursue medicine and become a doctor or to pursue flight and become a pilot. Ultimately, the deciding factor was something many doctors can empathize with. He says, “I know it’s an old cliché, but I actually decided that I really wanted to help people.”
What now?
When asked what he intends to do now that he is in Boston, he said that he would like to explore the area. “We are looking to get around more in Boston as well as other parts of New England too. We went out to Salem for the poetry festival out there and we did take a brief couple of days to go out to the Cape and that was wonderful.”
And as for his sports alliances? Petrack admits to not being the biggest sports person, but says, “We were glued to the TV watching the Red Sox during their World Series run. And that was a lot of fun. So we are definitely looking forward to being more avid Red Sox fans.”
