MDNews - Cleveland-Akron-Canton

COVER FEATURE Edward M. Barksdale, Jr., MD In Pursuit of By Alex Strauss H OWCAN YOUbe your best self? What are the ways you can use all of your talents to add value to society? These two questions shaped the life and career of Edward M. Barksdale, Jr., MD. Dr. Barksdale is surgeon-in-chief of University Hospitals (UH) Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital where he holds the Robert J. Izant, Jr., MD, Endowed Chair in Pediatric Surgery. He also serves as vice- chairman and professor of the Department of Surgery at UH and Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine; co-chair (along with Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson and Chief of Police Michael McGrath) of Project Focus, a youth vio- lence prevention program; member of the strategic planning committee for the U.S. Attorney General's Defending Childhood Initiative in Cuyahoga County; and tireless advocate of culturally appropriate injury prevention programs for Amish youth in Geauga County. "My love of service came from my parents who were working-class people with this pursuit of personal excellence and excellence in the way we serve the community," says Dr. Barksdale who was born and raised in Lynchburg, Virginia, in the 1950s and '60s. "At that time, social service and this concept of giving back and changing society were ripe in the environment." A monumental moment in the develop- ment of his own civic consciousness came in 1961, when Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. visited the Barksdale's home in support of his parents' efforts to integrate the central Virginia public schools. Excellence Dr. Barksdale is surgeon-in-chief of UH Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital. He also serves as co-chair (along with the Cleveland mayor and police chief) of Project Focus, a youth violence prevention program; member of the strategic planning committee for the U.S. Attorney General's Defending Childhood Initiative in Cuyahoga County; and tireless advocate of culturally appropriate injury prevention programs for Amish youth in Geauga County. "Martin Luther King, Jr. came to our house and our city on behalf of my parents, so my sister could go to the segregated public high school. In their minds, this was not only to serve our family but also to serve the needs of a greater community. So we really grew up with this strong ethos of pursuit of excellence and pursuit of service," says Dr. Barksdale. "And that's why I and my sister (who is a PhD academic physical therapist) chose health care as a career — to blend our service-oriented upbringing with our interest in science." 8 | Cleveland/Akron/Canton MD NEWS s MDNEWS.COM s NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2012 Academic Excellence Dr. Barksdale earned a BS in biology with honors from Yale University in 1980 followed by an MD degree from Harvard Medical School in 1984. He had no plans to become a surgeon until a surgical rota- tion at Boston's Massachusetts General Hospital sparked his interest, and he quickly became hooked. "I saw surgery as an opportunity to fix things — to be able to take care of medi- cal problems, but also to be able to take care of acute issues," he says. "So surgery became my passion. And, after working

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