David Epstein, MD on Clubhouse

Bio

Much of my career has focused on caring for the most critically ill children, as a pediatric intensivist, in academic, quaternary care hospitals. However, over the last number of years, I have had the opportunity to bring my expertise in pediatric critical care to the front lines of primary care in the form of practicing pediatric urgent care in my community. It has brought me much satisfaction to serve not only the children and families of my community in providing pediatric urgent care, but also collaborating with my fellow community pediatricians to provide continuity of their patients' care. I have learned much from my local colleagues and about the community medical experience. My experience working in two very different worlds has made me a better overall physician and given me a different perspective on the medical care systems of each.

I have also learned the importance of educating our community families and the problems that misinformation in healthcare can cause. I have had much experience teaching medical students, pediatric residents, and pediatric critical care fellows during my academic experience, but have now had the opportunity to extend that teaching to primary care staff and families in the community. Realizing that information comes from many different unfiltered sources, I have sought out mediums where I could provide support and convey accurate medical information. I have found further teaching success in consulting writers of medical scrips for television/film, advocating on the various social media platforms, and organizing community support zoom sessions for families in a question/answer format. I have really found it enjoyable and gratifying to educate at this "grassroots" level.

As a physician aspiring to provide both impactful and excellent clinical care and education, I have found motivation to try and make a difference in the words of Martin Luther King, Jr, "If I cannot do great things, I can do small things in a great way." This moves me closer to my overall objective in life, which is to leave this world a little better than when I found it.