Like father, like son BY DENNY ANGELLE
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early every weekday afternoon, two doctors unwind from the day over cappuccino at a table in the lobby of The Methodist Hospital. Partners in medicine, they talk about patients and their respective practices. They share more than a medical practice and a facial resemblance. The older physician, Dr. Juan Olivero, and his son Dr. Juan Olivero Jr., are both nephrologists at Methodist and one of a handful of parent-child teams practicing at the hospital. Olivero, senior, is a respected physician with a long history at Methodist. Olivero, junior, has practiced medicine with his father since July 2006. They share an office and staff — to tell them apart, the staff calls Junior “O2.” “I am elated … very happy to be working with my son,” the elder Olivero says. “It is truly the best thing that has happened to me here.” pstairs, in a busy operating room, two surgeons perform bariatric surgery on a patient while television cameras record their every move and microphones under their scrubs record everything they say. Dr. Garth Davis patiently partitions a part of stomach while his father, Dr. Robert Davis, assists and occasionally lends a comment on the proceedings. Even though they are wearing surgical masks, it is easy to tell the two apart. Garth is the taller of the two, and the jovial Robert is identifiable by his distinctive South African accent.
The Davises have practiced together for six years. “One of the benefits of being related is that neither of us is particularly shy about being brutally honest,” Robert Davis says. “And of course, neither is afraid to give the other a hard time.” Much of this unique chemistry was captured over the past eight months by documentary cameras from The Learning Channel, for a 13-part TV series, which premiered in May (see sidebar on page 23).
When filming began, the working title for the series was Father and Son Surgeons. “We certainly tease each other, you can’t necessarily do that with a colleague you are not related to,” Garth Davis explains. “He has certainly taught me a lot … he has taught me patience with patients. He may be a little more laid back than I am. But ultimately, I have the
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20 VOLUME 4, NUMBER 3
Front row: Amy Coburn, Robert Grossman; Second row: Juan Olivero, Horacio Adrogue Jr., Horacio Adrogue; Third row: Juan Olivero Jr., Robert Davis, Garth Davis; Last row: Michael Raizner, Albert Raizner, Jeffrey Friedman, James Friedman
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