Hi Friends!

My name is Tony GiaQuinta, and I love my job.

In 2009 I graduated form IU school of Medicine with a medical degree, and spent the next three years in Nashville at the Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital practicing to become a pediatrician.

I’ve always loved pediatrics. Kids motivate me. They give me energy. I can be having a really lousy day… the barometer is dropping, I have a headache, or a thirty hour pediatric shift ahead of me (of course, not allowed these days), and a be completely recharged by a smiling 6 month old eating his hand and talking non-sense. It’s truly a reciprocol relationship. I help them feel better, they help me feel better.

Don’t get me wrong, I like adults too, and in fact, rely on them to do my job effectively. Specifically, my relationship with parents is a critical bond that helps me communicate, treat, and prevent pediatric illness. But treating kids is my passion, allowing me sleep soundly at night and wake up energized in the morning.

After studying since I was a fetus (or seems like), with 4 years of undergraduate training, 4 years of medical school training, 3 years of residency, 4 certifying examinations (including my Pediatric Boards, still pending the results), and a heap of student debt, I have finally started my venture as a licenced pediatrician, capable of making treatment decisions and dolling out pediatric advice on my own. Liberating! A little frightening… but I have confidence in my training and work ethic that I will be a really great doctor. Not a good one. A great one. Cocky? Mmmm… I don’t think so. Kids are too important to have a mediocre pediatrician. You want a great one, and I worked really hard to be just that. Don’t worry, I promise I am still humble and will always admit when I am in over my head or just plain don’t know. I’m thinking this is ok for a doctor to admit, and that even great doctors don’t know everything.

I accepted my first job with Hendricks Regional Hospital taking care of their sick Pediatric population, newborn nursery, and special care nursery. It’s a fantastic job… interesting, exciting, busy, but still lets me spend time with my families and patients for them to ask questions and get the answers they deserve.

But more importantly, my job does not have me working the 80 hours/week that I have grown accustomed to over the past three years during residency! I have time. With a baby on the way, I am sure, some of this precious resource will be diverted. But, over the last three months, I have really cherished these moments talking with other parents and educating them about the field I love.

I focused these efforts initially using my Twitter account @IndyPedsDoc, and garning a few followers (thanks to my sister and wife for getting my name out). Admittedly, most of the posts are ‘re-tweets’ or quotes from other sources, with me adding my own spin on the title.

But I have more to say! Hence, this blog. We’ll see how this evolves, but for now, I am intending to focus this time on advertising current pediatric trends, research, and knowledge and occasionally mixing in my own thoughts and opinion. I really hope that what I post has relevance specifically towards issues that are confusing, controversial, or unknown to my followers. I am also motivated by Dads (being a male myself), and hope for this to be a resource that they can feel comfortable looking towards…although I think I only have 1-2 male followers on my IndyPedsDoc twitter account. It’s a work in progress.

Most of all, I hope this to be helpful. A few friends (now parents) have already begun texting me pictures of their kids’ rashes etc asking for my advice, and always apologetic to be taking my time.

To this, I always reply, that it is an honor to be entrusted with taking care of your loved one, and as mentioned above, I love my job.

Tony GiaQuinta