The Handoff: Brit Nicholson Recalls his First Meeting with Roman DeSanctis

On July 8, Roman W. DeSanctis, MD director of Clinical Cardiology Emeritus at Massachusetts General Hospital, passed away at the age of 93. A legendary physician, mentor, teacher, leader, fundraiser and philanthropist, Dr. DeSanctis dedicated 70 years of his life working in support of the Mass General community, touching the lives of thousands of patients, caregivers and physicians along the way.

One of those physicians was Senior Vice President of Development Britain Nicholson, MD. The two met by chance, shortly after Dr. Nicholson’s arrival at Mass General as a first-year resident, and Dr. DeSanctis would go on to become a mentor to the young doctor. Years later, following Dr. DeSanctis’ retirement from clinical practice in 2014, the two worked together closely on numerous fundraising efforts for the hospital.

In the following, Dr. Nicholson recalls how their first interaction affirmed his career choice and set him on the path to a lifetime in medicine.

“My first memory of Roman DeSanctis is emblazoned on my mind. It was my first or second day at Mass General, and I was covering a 24-hour shift in the emergency room. It was a strange time for me: I’d had a terrific education at Duke Medical School, but there was nothing they could have done to prepare me for residency in Boston. And frankly, I still wasn’t sure I’d picked the right profession.

“That interaction with Roman, it was really a burning bush moment for me. I knew at that moment, not only was I in the right profession — I was in the right place.”

So that night, at two o’clock in the morning, Roman comes walking into the emergency room. He had obviously been awakened and came in without a tie. As it happened, the wife of one of his patients — an assistant baker in the North End — had called him, concerned about her husband’s shortness of breath. Roman had told her to go straight to the emergency room and that he would meet her there. The patient arrived and was transported back to room seven — a special four-bed room designated for cardiac cases — and I was assigned care of that patient. Roman walked in, never having seen me before, and despite the fact I was relatively junior, immediately started asking about my opinion on the case. He treated me just like a colleague that had been on the staff for years.

Now some things never change, and that night the emergency room was very, very busy. The orderlies who would normally transport the patient to X-ray were tied up. Rather than wait, Roman said, ‘come on, let’s wheel him over; we can probably get it done faster.’ And so, we did. While we waited for the X-ray, Roman kept pointing out physical findings on the exam that he thought were pertinent to coming up with a diagnosis. He was teaching the whole time.

A little while later, after the patient was stabilized, he turned to me and said, ‘Brit’ — he remembered my name from our first introduction — ‘why don’t we go out and speak with his wife? I’m sure she’s very concerned.’

We went out into the waiting room, and Roman sat down with her. The first thing he did was take one of her hands in his. He said to her: ‘I just want to assure you that your husband is quite sick, but he’s doing much, much better, and I’m encouraged.’ Then he explained the care plan, and turning to me, he says, ‘Now, I’ll be going home, but I’m so pleased that he’s going to be under the care of Dr. Nicholson.’ That was the handoff.

Later that morning, after my shift, I walked home to Back Bay, where my wife and I were living at the time. I remember it clearly: it was a beautiful late June morning, and there was just a spring in my step. That interaction with Roman, it was really a burning bush moment for me. I knew at that moment, not only was I in the right profession — I was in the right place.”