Robert b wallace md fredericksburg

ROBERT B. WALLACE, M.D.
1931-2022

Robert Bruce Wallace, M.D., passed away at his home in Alexandria, VA on August 23, 2022 surrounded by family. He was born on April 12, 1931 in Washington, D.C., one of three boys. His father worked as a milk deliveryman and his mother as a government clerk and both were committed to seeing their sons educated. During his early school years, he worked as a paperboy, a farm hand, dairyman, camp counselor, and was a paid soloist in the church choir. He went to high school on scholarship at St. Peters Episcopal School for boys in Peekskill, NY. He was an honor roll student and was on the varsity baseball, boxing and football teams. He was co-captain of the football team in his junior and senior years. Following his senior year, he had tryouts with the Washington Senators and New York Giants baseball teams. Instead of pursuing professional sports, he attended Columbia College in New York on scholarship as a Leopold Schepp Foundation Scholar. During college he was on the varsity football team for three years, a member of Sigma Chi fraternity and The Sachem Society, a senior honorary society.

Following college graduation in 1953, he entered the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University and received his M.D. degree in 1957. He married between his second and third year of medical school to Betty Jean Newel, who worked at the Rockefeller Foundation and was a major factor in his completing medical school. He did a surgical residency at St. Vincent's Hospital in New York and then cardiothoracic surgery at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas under Drs. Michael DeBakey and Denton Cooley. While at Baylor, he met Dr. John Kirklin who had started the heart surgery program at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. Dr. Kirklin invited him to join the Mayo Clinic faculty where his interest and expertise focused on surgery for both congenital and acquired heart defects. In 1968, Dr. Wallace was named Chairman and Professor of the Department of Surgery at the young age of thirty-seven years old.

In January, 1980 he moved back to his hometown of Washington, D.C. as Professor and Chairman of Surgery at Georgetown University School of Medicine. Leaving the Mayo Clinic was a difficult decision but Georgetown represented a new set of challenges and the opportunity to unite with family. He believed strongly in the Mayo Clinic Model of Care that centered around an integrated approach to diagnosis and treatment, a true salaried system without financial incentives that promoted collegiality and collaboration, and was criticized for trying to make Georgetown like the Mayo Clinic. Although there was some integration of clinical practice it was not to the degree that he had hoped and his only regret was that he was not more effective at replicating the Mayo brand of healthcare. However, he was successful at building a strong cardiac surgery program in the Washington, D.C. area following the important contributions of his recognized predecessor, Dr. Charles Hufnagel, established a premier general surgical residency, and a prestigious surgical research program.

Of all his accolades, the ones he valued most were the Robert B. Wallace Society that was established by his former residents (1991) and his most esteemed was his election to President of the American Association of Thoracic Surgery. His AATS Presidential Address (given at the 75th AATS meeting in Boston, 1995) was titled �Reflections � Projections,� and emphasized the importance of data analysis to improve quality of care and elimination of excess in the healthcare system to promote financial responsibility. He was an author or co-author of over 250 manuscripts or book chapters on vascular and cardiac surgery and had written on many topics covering congenital heart disease, valvular heart disease, coronary disease, and many more. Importantly, he was admired and respected by his peers for his academic and intellectual honesty.

Dr. Wallace had a strong personality and he exuded unparalleled confidence. He was a clear and direct communicator, objective, fair, and never jumped to conclusions without listening to all sides of the story. His intensity and focus in the operating room were brilliant, demanding, and at times, intimidating. His famous one-liners included: �don�t be sorry, be competent,� and �there is no room for mediocrity in surgery.� The words of William Mayo, �the best interest of the patient is the only interest to be considered� was Dr. Wallace�s mantra�and it rubbed off on every colleague and resident at Georgetown. He always provided hope in difficult circumstances and was compassionate and understanding with a grieving family when things did not work out. Beyond his professional career, he would comment frequently about his family and you could always count on a smile when asking him about his wife Betty (of 67 years) or any of his 3 children. He had said on many occasions, �Betty is a remarkable woman who accepted the vicissitudes of a cardiac surgical career, which takes a great deal of understanding and commitment,� and �I could have never done it without Betty.� He was also exceptionally proud of his 3 children Rob, Anne Sprague, Barb Schwartz, and his grandchildren, Tyler, Kate, Charlie, Ellie, Maggie and Jack, and brothers William (Sallie) and Hank (Carol), many cousins, nieces and nephews that he spent much time with during his retirement years.

Dr. Wallace was a leader by example, a surgeon�s surgeon and the consummate teacher, mentor, and role model. He was a professional in every sense of the word. As Theodore Roosevelt said -"far and away the best prize that life offers, is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.� It was evident to everyone around him that his uncompromising work ethic for his patients, his trainees, and his colleagues, was indeed, work worth doing. He had insisted that all of his trainees call him Bob after residency was finished, but none of us could never come around to doing so. He was and always will be Dr. Wallace.

JOSEPH A. DEARANI, M.D.