I love science.
It's politically appropriate,
nobody argues with you say you're going into medicine, but
it was the science I really loved.
And at the time,
I didn't know you could do science and not do medicine.
[MUSIC]
>> George Dover is, in many ways,
a bigger-than-life kind of character.
The thing that comes across whenever you're around George is
this absolute complete commitment to children.
>> I'm mom, Brandy.
>> Hi mom, I'm George Dover.
>> Nice to meet you.
>> I work for almost everybody in this building.
>> Wow. >> Okay.
>> Okay.
>> Including you and her.
>> Okay. [LAUGH] I was gonna ask.
>> Okay, yes.
>> Whenever I'm taking care of a child,
I will always think what would George Dover do?
And he always ended every case conference asking Dr.
Barton Child's question, why this child,
why this disease, why now?
And that again follows me whenever I'm taking
care of a child, in any situation.
He would always be at the bedside,
taking care of the family.
And then he would always be striving to improve
himself and to learn.
>> I think one of the things that nurses really value in
George is his presence as a safety
champion and his willingness to come to the units personally and
round, looking at safety issues.
If for some reason, unexpectedly,
his scheduled safety round doesn't happen on the unit,
the nursing staff are asking when he'll return.
They really value having a comfortable relationship with
him and being able to go ahead and
say whatever is on their minds.
>> There has to be a group of people who are committed to
changing medicine.
That it's just not enough to be a very good physician in
my mind.
There has to be a subset of people who are committed to
changing medicine and that's what Hopkins allows you to do.
[MUSIC]
>> George was working with Ned Boyer and Kirby Smith and really
making some very interesting discoveries and observations on
the way hemoglobin is distributed in red blood cells.
And George was the F-cell expert,
not only at Johns Hopkins, but really around the world.
And there was a lot of very interesting work being done
about how if one could increase the proportion of F-cells,
you could reduce the clinical severity of illnesses such as
sickle cell disease.
>> I actually was inspired to work here because of Dr. Dover.
[MUSIC]
With the stresses of college and just with working and school and
clinical, I wasn't myself anymore.
I was having a lot more pain crises,
I was missing class all the time, I just felt really bad,
I'm starting to get teary, I'm sorry.
I ended up coming here, was seen by both Doctor Dover and
Doctor Cassel, who's the head of Hematology now, and with their
recommendations, they decided to try me on hydroxyurea.
[MUSIC]
It really changed my life, it really,
it gave me a quality of life that I didn't have and
that I wouldn't have today if it wasn't for him.
Say that he is one of the most important people of my life
would be an understatement.
>> Pediatrics now is given the incredible opportunity
of not only preventing disease in children and
treating acute illnesses in children.
Pediatrics now will inherit the ability to look at individuals
and begin to see which ones are gonna be at risk for
these common adult diseases long before the diseases become
apparent
[MUSIC]
>> One of the things that George insisted on was that we not
design the building from just our perspective.
He wanted family involvement.
He wanted to hear what families had to say.
And then he wanted to hear what children had to say too.
So one of the formative things that we did for
the design of the building was focus groups.
Family Center Care really grew out of those focus groups.
>> Even before we started to go into design for that,
which now goes back 10-12 years ago, he went out across
the country to at least half a dozen major children's
facilities, brought many of us along with him so that we could
see what some of the best places in the country were doing.
And we used that information to really help us to begin to
design the Children's Center, which has turned out,
as you know, to be a spectacular facility.
>> He really came with a mindset that we were gonna leave
CMSC behind.
We were gonna leave the old ways behind.
We were gonna look at everything fresh and different and
that's exactly what he and all of his clinicians and
leaders have done here in the Children's Center.
Everything's been geared to patients and families,
really quite a refreshing point of view.
[MUSIC]
>> I think what I brought to the leadership job
was a focus on the faculty.
I thought that this place had given me the opportunity
to do things I didn't even know existed.
I knew what it had done for me and I decided
that's what I wanted to do for the rest of the faculty.
>> I've learned a lot from him about what leadership
is all about.
I think he, first of all, he understands that the department
won't be successful if the people in it aren't successful
and he works very hard to foster their careers and
to mentor them or to find others who will.
>> University mail in College Park.
>> Wow.
>> George Dover would be, as much as he is as an individual,
I would call him the company man because
he personifies the values that Hopkins has.
He's a person of great character and integrity.
He's a person that is always committed to excellence.
He's a great leader, and by a great leader I mean he's someone
that knows when to intervene when there's a problem.
His answer was always yes.
It might be yes, but, but it was yes.
Yes, we will figure out a way to make this work because in
the end, what we care most about at the Hopkins Children Center
are the children we're here to serve.
[MUSIC]
>> Thank you for talking to me and sharing Bingo with me.
I've had an incredible career.
I was allowed to do science pretty much the way I wanted to.
Being in the right place at the right time I was able to really
change a field of medicine.
>> Thank you Doctor Dover because of my new heart,
I can dance.
>> Thank you Doctor Dover because of you I can ride my
scooter.
>> Thanks to you Dr. Dover I can play piano.
>> Thank you Dr. Dover and
Johns Hopkins, because of you I can create beautiful things.
[MUSIC]