Sep 7, 2021
In this episode of the Hamilton Review, Dr. Bob has a wonderful discussion with Dr. Jeff Wasson, Pediatrician and Founder of Tenth Street Pediatrics in Santa Monica, CA.
Dr. Wasson shares about his journey into medicine and pediatrics and then Dr. Wasson and Dr. Bob talk extensively about the current world of pediatrics.
Don't miss this great conversation!
Here is Dr. Wasson's Bio in his own words:
My interest in medicine, actually began back in the Bronx during my summer college job as a life guard. At the age of eighteen, I was involved with the resuscitation of an elderly gentleman who suffered a heart attack.The tragedy of his death was an epiphany for me, and I immediately shifted my course load to pre-med at the State University of New York at Buffalo where I had been an engineering major.
Four years later, I was admitted to UCLA medical school and traveled west from Buffalo, New York, on a dreary January day, to tour UCLA and its environs. Well, need I say more? I was sold at my first palm tree sighting.
I loved medical school, and was honored by being selected by the faculty, into Alpha Omega Alpha, the national honor medical society. As I rotated through the various sub specialties such as surgery, emergency medicine, radiology and pediatrics, I tried to envision myself in each. But it was the children that captured my heart.They were too fun and honest. Yes, they get illnesses, but they overwhelmingly get better, and I enjoyed educating the families and reassuring them along the way. As a rather outgoing, and informal individual, I seemed a natural fit for relating well to the children and adolescents.
After medical school, I completed my pediatric residency at Harbor General Hospital, a UCLA affiliated program. From there I took my first job at the East Los Angeles Child and Youth Clinic in Boyle Heights, a Latino community, where I both improved my Spanish language proficiency and found an even deeper love for Los Angeles, until then just a city of sun and palms. After 3 gratifying years at the clinic I decided to enter private practice on the Westside and ultimately helped form the nucleus of what is now 10th Street Pediatrics.
Annually, for the past 20 years, and in concert with All Saints Church, in Beverly Hills, I have lead a team of doctors, nurses and volunteers to remote areas of Honduras. We convert their churches into medical clinics and care for approximately 1200 patients during our one week mission whom we have come to know so well. This volunteer work over the years has been one of the most moving experiences of my life.
I've been blessed with 2 wonderful adult children, Sam, a successful writer and Sophie, a burgeoning psychologist. My wife, Maria, is a Gynecologic Nurse Practitioner in Santa Monica. We live in Venice and share a love of cinema, nature and travel to far away places, when our busy lives allow it. On my personal time, I love reading, with my favorites being Phillip Roth and William Styron, and try to carve out an hour for my daily fix of Rachel Maddow. You'll find me either rollerblading or bicycle riding on the bike path in Venice a few times a week and yearly on the slopes of Mammoth, no better than a "solid blue." I'm loyal to my Bronx upbringing, hence my love of the frustrating Knicks, and my boyhood hero, Willie Mays.
How to contact Dr. Jeff Wasson: