In honor of Stuart Gold, MD
Dr. Stuart Gold always knew he wanted to be like his uncle—a pediatrician in Atlanta. And though Dr. Gold works at this new, large N.C. Cancer Hospital, he is, clearly, a pediatrician.
“My uncle was an old-fashioned pediatrician,” he says. “He’d take me with him to the public health clinics in Atlanta. He made house calls. He was warm and compassionate, and was a great role model.”
Dr. Gold’s colleagues, patients and parents of patients now pay him similar compliments. (One mother has called him a saint.) The only difference is that Dr. Gold takes care of children with cancer and blood disorders. It’s a challenging and incredibly rewarding job, one he has always wanted dating back to his days at Vanderbilt Medical School.
“Working with kids is fun,” Dr. Gold says. “The key is not to treat them as if they are ill, to treat them as normal as they are.” And so you might find him eating pizza with families or laughing and joking with kids or even playing games with them.
“They teach me a lot—especially about my priorities in life,” he says. “I could not imagine a field more exciting than this—working with incredible kids and families, being able to provide continuity of care, and watching these kids grow up and have families of their own.”