10/31/2025
Message from Dr. Clifford to you:
Forty-two years, 4 months, and 19 days ago I could, for the first time, call myself a pediatrician. Tomorrow, for the first time, I will be a retired pediatrician. Yet caring for children is so central to who I am that “retired” does not quite feel like the right word, even if I also cannot yet specify a word that might feel better.
As a practicing pediatrician, I have had myself, and have witnessed in others, moments that inspired. Other experiences have been gut-wrenchingly tragic. Some have been hilarious. Many have been tearfully poignant. I have tried to do my job well. Sometimes I think I succeeded. At other times, not so much. Thank you for your grace when I was not at the top of my game and thank you for your willingness to consider my advice and observations.
For those of you who thought highly of me, and in the interest of full disclosure, please know that the ostensibly wise advice I sometimes gave you was not necessarily carried out in my own home. When my daughter was a youngster, she once told me, “Mom, I don’t think you are setting a very good example for me right now.” Good parenting is difficult, even for pediatricians, so as a parting piece of advice, I encourage you to forgive yourself when you are less than gracious with your children. It is probably also a good idea to avoid taking too much credit for the awesome things your children achieve or too much blame for their bad choices.
I leave you in the most competent of hands. All the folks at Novant Health Robinhood Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine have worked hard to build a patient-centered home The people in this practice are simply incredible, both as professionals and as human beings. That’s not hyperbole. It’s the truth. And I am so proud to have been a member of this team. Walking out of this building for the last time, and knowing I will no longer have daily contact with my coworkers is such a profoundly sad thought that I believe I will do my best not to think it.
Finally, I cannot leave this moment without advocating for our profession. We pediatricians are fundamentally scientists, but we find ourselves –not of our own choosing—now practicing in an environment where scientific conclusions are being beaten and battered by politicians and YouTubers and other so-called “influencers” on social media for their own gain and notoriety. They can often be more colorful and entertaining and even more convincing than us pediatricians, but they are in the game for themselves, not for you. Science is so systematic and careful that it is often boring and, to be sure, sometimes scientific conclusions are temporarily wrong. But science is also self-correcting in the long run, something that seems out of the question for politicians, YouTubers, and other social media influencers. Please. Trust the science as conveyed to you specifically, in person, by a pediatrician you trust.
I hope our paths cross. Until they do, I leave you with much love and the warmest of regards.
Barb