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From the earliest days of his medical training, Howard Kirshenbaum, MD, brought a blend of compassion, knowledge and humility to the BWH community. A cardiologist with Charles River Medical Associates in Marlborough, he also trained cardiology fellows at BWH and was an associate professor at UMass. Dr. Kirshenbaum died of cancer May 26 at the age of 61. He lived in Sudbury.
“Many of us were fortunate enough to spend our Monday afternoons working with him in our outpatient cardiology clinic,” said cardiology fellow Jessica Pena, MD. “As our preceptor, he always arrived with a smile, eager to help us care for our patients. We were all greatly influenced by his practical approach to medicine, warm bedside manner and impeccable clinical acumen.”
This spring, cardiology fellows posthumously honored Dr. Kirshenbaum with the Eugene Braunwald Teaching Award.
Dr. Kirshenbaum graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Harvard College in 1970 and from Harvard Medical School four years later. He completed his residency at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital and at Massachusetts General Hospital before teaching full time at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester. After teaching for a short while, he decided he would rather treat patients and returned to practicing cardiology.
“He was a brilliant, compassionate physician who gave the best of care to his patients,” said Marshall A. Wolf, MD, vice chair of Medical Education, who directed the medical residency training program at BWH when Dr. Kirshenbaum was a student. “He was respected by his peers, his patients, and above all the nurses, who realized he was the best of the best. He was one of these people who was always the top of his class in everything he did. And he had one of the things that makes a brilliant person extraordinary: He was willing to work very hard.”
Dr. Kirshenbaum was equally devoted to his family. With his wife, Elaine, vice president of policy, planning and member services at the Massachusetts Medical Society, he had two children, Jennifer, a lawyer, and Daniel, a fourth-year medical student at Boston University School of Medicine. In a 25th anniversary update for his undergraduate class at Harvard, Dr. Kirshenbaum wrote that “the most important part of his life … started in 1972 when [he] met Elaine.” He enjoyed skiing and music, and his family recalls he was a wonderful classical pianist.
In addition to his wife, daughter and son, Dr. Kirshenbaum is survived by his mother, Lucy (Gutstein); two brothers, Steven and Kenneth; a sister, Barbara Weliky; his mother-in-law, Florence Jaffe; and brother-in-law, Dr. Edward Jaffe. A service was held in May at the Florence & Chafetz Hillel House. Remembrances may be made to the Brigham and Women's Hospital Medical Education Fund.