How can it be? Retirement?
No doubt there exists a very large following within the Duke family who connect with Duke General Internal Medicine because of the persona of Dr. Rob Paterson. There probably hasn’t been a more kind, respectful, and respected clinician. To our dismay, Rob is “retiring” this month.
Did you know that Dr. Paterson was Duke all the way? Undergrad, medicine, residency, and GIM fellowship. There was a brief hiatus in residency where he pursued surgery training at the University of South Florida in Jacksonville but Duke was happy for his return for a year-long fellowship in general internal medicine, then recruited by Dr. Feussner to our clinical faculty.
The history of general medicine at Duke resides with all of Rob’s experiences, beginning with the practice location across from Duke University Hospital in the leaky basement of the old Brownstone Hotel which was later torn down and replaced by the Hock Building.
Probably the most remarkable experience for his clinical practice was the era of the HMO, when referrals from the PCP (primary care physician) were mandated. It was akin to “drinking from a fire hose” until the health system tripled the number of doctors.
DGIM salutes Dr. Paterson not only for excellence in patient care, but for years of inpatient rounding as a GIM attending and precepting trainees in clinic. He will be greatly missed. We wish him well in the years ahead!