He was called a “zany teacher” and “not your average, staid doctor and professor.”[1] He loved “terrible” rock music and fixed breakfast for his kids on the weekends. He was a doctor’s doctor and a “cool guy.” These are just a few of the memories shared of Dr. James Winshall, 41, primary care physician and medical director for Brigham Circle Medical Associates, who died on September 8, 2005, when his Vespa scooter was struck by a tractor-trailer on Massachusetts Avenue in the Back Bay. Over 700 colleagues, friends, and patients came to his memorial service on September 11. A Detroit native, Dr. Winshall earned his undergraduate degree in biology at Brown, and his MD from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in 1992, where he met his wife, Gail Levine, now a physician at the Southern Jamaica Plain Health Center. Your Medicine Online asked a few of Dr. Winshall’s colleagues to share their memories of the physician they knew.

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“Jamie was “the son we all hoped for, the son-in-law we all prayed for, the father of our grandchildren we all hoped for, and the friend we all wanted,” reflects Dr. Marshall Wolf, who was Dr. Winshall’s teacher, practice partner for a decade, and even his patient. During Dr. Winshall’s residency, Dr. Wolf says, “he was the kind of doctor everybody wanted to be. He was knowledgeable and kind and calm and caring, the kind of doctor you wanted to take care of your family.” Dr. Kathryn Rexrode knew Jamie in medical school, was in the same residency track at BWH, and says, “Even in medical school it was clear that Jamie was a ‘star.’ In our residency, he was admired for his breadth and depth of knowledge, but just as much for how willing he was to share this with, and teach this to, others, his colleagues and his patients. Jamie was always seeking out the newest data that would help his patients. He was the person you would tell your ‘tough case’ – and he always had something helpful and insightful to say about it.”

When Dr. Wolf’s practice partner of 25 years, Dr. William Branch, moved to Emory, Dr. Wolf invited Jamie to fill his shoes. “Originally I was his mentor,” says Dr. Wolf, “but in the last few years he has been mine.” As a practice partner, Dr. Wolf says, Dr. Winshall was “Wonderful. He was very even-tempered. He was very energetic and talented, a good doctor, very comfortable saying ‘I don’t know’ and asking questions. He was always seeking the best way to care for his patients. He was a busy clinician educator and involved in administration, but he made time to co-author a handbook on the care of critically ill patients (Tarascon Internal Medicine and Critical Care Pocketbook, now in its 3rd edition) which my son, who is now a resident, tells me is the most valuable book he owns.”

About a year ago, when Dr. Winshall encouraged Dr. Wolf to recruit additional practice physicians (they hired Drs. Chuck Morris and Nora Osman), Dr. Wolf says, “It made me realize that someday I would retire, hopefully not soon but someday, and also made me think about the fact that someday I would pass on, and I thought, ‘Well, Jamie will do my eulogy.’ I thought it was very ironic that I did his instead. Probably the most moving moment in his memorial service was when his wife, who was also his classmate in the training program here, got up and gave a speech to their children. She is a remarkable person; equally remarkable. In fact, I liked to tease Jamie that when he and his wife applied to our residency program, we really wanted her, but we took him anyway.”

Dr. Wolf was not the only BWH physician to choose Dr. Winshall as his doctor. “When it was time for this internist to choose an internist for my own care, I chose Jamie,” says Branch Moody, MD, another BWH classmate. “Having worked together on the most challenging ward services, it was easy to identify Jamie as one of the most talented physicians I have known.” Dr. William Oh, another former BWH classmate, agrees: “Jamie was perhaps the finest doctor I have ever worked with. We cared for many patients together, and rarely have I seen so many patients as devoted to their physician as Dr. Winshall’s patients’ were to him.” Dr. Phyllis Jen, his colleague in internal medicine, says, “I think he was the best primary care doctor at Brigham and Women’s.”

Reflecting on Dr. Winshall’s love for his patients, Dr. Wolf says, “At the memorial service, several came up to me and said that he had saved their lives and that he was the most wonderful doctor. They come into the office now, and tell stories about him. ‘When I was sick he came in at night to see me and spent the night with me.’ Or, ‘He came in on the weekend and he spent the weekend with me.’ Yet at the same time he was the best of fathers to his three children, and the best of husbands to his wife. His patients have been anxious to do something to perpetuate his memory, and I have encouraged them to support a fund for the education of his children, Nathan, David, and Lisa. In addition, he had wanted to establish a visiting professorship in primary care medicine, someone who would come visit the hospital once a year and teach us how to be better doctors. We are working on plans for that.”

Dr. Bill Maisel shares the image he will remember most keenly. “I ran into Jamie at the Larz Anderson Park in Brookline a few weeks ago. It was a beautiful day and he was watching his daughter play little league. He was happy, relaxed, and laughed his characteristic laugh. It was the quintessential Jamie moment.”

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[1] The Boston Globe online, accessed 9/26/05.

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If you'd like to make a donation to the James Winshall Memorial Children's Fund, please address it to:
PO Box 1860
Jamaica Plain, MA 02130

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