Paving the Way in Women’s Health
Gretchen Fish, third from right, with Fish Center doctors and staff, from left, Dr. Nina Cotran, Primary Care, Dr. Susan Haden, Endocrinology, Maria Reis, LPN, Dermatology, Sandra Taylor, executive assistant, Dr. Linda Lee, Gastroenterology, and BIMA’s Dr. Beverly Woo, Primary Care.
Gretchen Fish once described how she wanted patients to feel in the Gretchen S. and Edward A. Fish Center for Women’s Health: when a patient walked through the door, she would feel that arms were around her and that her whole self was taken care of.
“That image speaks to the essence of our mission to improve the health of women and transform their care,” Paula Johnson, MD, MPH, chief of the Division of Women’s Health and executive director of the Connors Center for Women’s Health and Gender Biology, said during the dedication of the Fish Center May 17.
BWH trustees, leaders, staff and friends came together at the ceremony, celebrating the $3 million gift of Edward and Gretchen Fish—both members of the Board of Trustees—that made the center and its integrated approach to women’s health possible. At the Fish Center, women have access to a variety of specialties, including primary care services, OB/GYN, cardiology, endocrinology, diabetes, gastroenterology, dermatology, thoracics, orthopedics, rheumatology, mental health, rehabilitation and radiology, in addition to the clinical resources available at the Francis Street campus.
“We now have a health facility that brings together experts from various disciplines who are dedicated to addressing the very special, comprehensive health needs of each woman,” BWH President Gary Gottlieb, MD, MBA, said at the dedication. “When we improve the health of women—our mothers, sisters and daughters—we improve the health of the entire community.”
Ed Fish spoke of those at BWH who worked hard to create the center, and their determination to achieve excellence in women’s health. “These dedicated individuals have broken down the wall of separatism and are merging together disciplines of medicine that enhance the opportunity to treat the whole and not the sum of its parts,” he said.
The Fish Center, housed on the fourth floor of 850 Boylston St., fosters advancing care and patient service and facilitates research and its rapid translation to direct care.
“Patients served here will be full partners in their care,” Johnson said. “They will be invited to participate in studies aimed at improving treatment, enhancing the way medical professionals and patients interact and contributing to disease prevention.”
The dedication ceremony culminated with the presentation of a portrait of Gretchen and Ed Fish, which will hang in the patient waiting area of the Fish Center as a reminder of the leadership and generosity of the Fishes.