Emancipated Patients popular cardiologist Retiring By Patrick Neustatter, MD Another long-standing, popular, practitioner who has been one of the medical institutions of Fredericksburg, is retiring. An event that I think should not go without some recognition. Robert (always known as Bob) Vranian has been one of the most popular, best known cardiologists in Fredericksburg. I have known him for a long time - since the old days when we both worked at the Pratt Medical Center together, and dinosaurs roamed the earth. I have always been impressed by his ability to connect with patients and his apparent love of his work - such that I thought he would never retire. Most of all, I like his holistic approach. I got to talk to him at his office, at the Virginia Heart and Vascular Institute on the Mary Washington Hospital campus recently. Despite being withing two weeks of hanging it up, he was still on call. Still "full steam ahead" with his phone going ballistic - though appropriately the sound of a locomotive whistles rather than ringing. An Environmental View I asked him how he came to practice this style, of what the blurb at Virginal Cardiovascular Consultants - the group he moved on to after Pratt describes as "effective, innovative and personalized cardiovascular care."
This prompted a rather allegorical explanation about how he grew up the son of "an inquisitive Armenian" father and "a holistic thinking" mother, close to a river with tributaries and wetlands, that would go through cycles of drought or flood. This gave him a feel for how the health of one part is interdependent on the whole environment. A lesson he has extrapolated to the care of his patient's cardiovascular systems. The health of our hearts and blood vessels is very dependent on our environment - our diet, our activity, our chemical exposure, our stress levels and so on. He was a proponent of a slightly "alternative" approach already, touting the importance of Omega-3 oils and the antioxidant benefits of CoQ10 for example. But then he did a course in holistic medicine. Heart specialist were in the minority here he notes. "Out of six hundred or so people attending, there were only two cardiologists." Then he sat and passed the exam to become a Diplomate of the American Board of Integrative and Holistic Medicine. His explanation for why there is not a broader Integrative/Holistic approach harks back to 1910 and the Flexner Report. Something that was meant to improve medical education, but which had its dark side with its strict adherence "to the protocols of mainstream science," its creation of a shortage of doctors by cutting the number of medical school programs from 155 to 31, and its claiming
The Crepe Myrtles bloom for 100 days and our local trees on Hanson Avenue in Historic Normandy Village put on quite a show. photos by Penny A Parrish
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Front porch fredericksburg
black doctors should only treat black patients, and "serve roles subservient to white doctors" notes Wikipedia. Too Smart for Fredericksburg? He was obviously a good scholar. He has stella credentials, doing undergraduate at UVA, Medical school at Yale (graduating in the top 10 percent), residency at University of Texas Southwestern and fellowship at Duke. I wondered if Fredericksburg had seemed too "small town" for someone with such potential. But he voiced no regrets. "I felt like I was meant to be here" he told me. He has been able to satiate his academic needs by being involved with various research projects coordinated by Duke. Although no one can fill Bob's shoes, Virginia Cardiovascular Consultants has recruited VCU trained Aaron Schatz
who did both medical school, Internal medicine residency and Cardiology fellowship there. I just hope he, and the other cardiologists of Fredericksburg, can continue that same personalized, holistic care. But I worry that no one will be able to "feel what's going on" with their patients, that Vranian thinks so important, and that has made Bob Vranian beloved to so many.
Patrick Neustatter, MD is the Medical Director of the Moss Free Clinic. & Author of Managing Your Doctor The Smart Patient’s Guide to Getting Effective Affordable Healthcare. managingyourdoctor.com
