Hey Doc!
Are you listening to YOUR heart?
By Richard Sheff, MD
Richard Sheff, MD, known to most of his patients as Dr. Rick, is a family physician with over twenty five years of experience in medicine.
He chose the specialty of family medicine because he wanted to see and treat patients as whole people whose illness
and wellness are a result of the complex interplay of their biological, psychological, social, and cultural circumstances. The
years have taught him that to this must be added recognition of each patient's spiritual circumstances if they are truly to be seen
as a whole person, including understanding their illness and wellness.
Dr. Rick practiced family medicine in Massachusetts for twelve years, seeing adults, children, the elderly and, for the first part
of his practice, delivering babies. Over the years he was asked to assume greater leadership responsibilities, including serving
as medical director of his group practice, vice president for medical affairs of his hospital, president of a corporation
that owned and operated physician practices, and vice president for medical affairs of an integrated delivery system. He left
there to launch a new company, CommonWell, to help our healthcare system integrate the best of complementary and alternative medicine
with the best of conventional medicine. At the same time, he began to consult with hospitals and physician organizations throughout
the United States, and more recently internationally. He now serves as chairman and executive director of The Greeley Company,
a highly respected healthcare consulting and education company dedicated to helping physicians and hospitals provide outstanding
care to the communities they serve. Dr. Rick has consulted, authored and lectured on a wide-range of healthcare management
and leadership issues, including quality, patient safety, physician performance and accountability, and conflict resolution. "I
went into medicine to be a healer and a teacher," he says, "and today I find myself continuing this work, but with a national
and even international ministry. My goal is to heal healthcare for those who provide care and for all the patients and
families who entrust their vulnerability to physicians and our healthcare system."
Dr. Rick is a graduate of the University
of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and the Brown University residency program in family medicine. He was an undergraduate at Cornell University and
recipient of the Keasbey Scholarship for the study of politics and philosophy at Oxford University.