A Doctor’s Inspiration: My Journey Shaped by Dr Richard Fine
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As the year draws to a close and the festive period encourages a moment of pause, I’ve found myself reflecting on the paths that led me to where I am today. Clinical practice is often focused on the present—supporting the person in front of us, solving the issue at hand—but every so often it’s important to look back at what shaped us. For me, the story behind my journey into medicine begins with a doctor who cared for me long before I understood what the word “doctor” truly meant.
I first met Dr Richard Fine only a few hours after landing in Los Angeles. I must have looked unwell when I arrived in California to visit my grandmother, because I was quickly taken to the family doctor—who was so concerned by what he saw that he closed his office immediately and accompanied my parents, my baby sister, and me to the emergency room at UCLA.
I was far too young to remember the drama of that day, but I will always remember what came after: being cared for by the most knowledgeable, calm, and reassuring doctor any child—or any parent—could hope for.
Dr Fine diagnosed me with nephrotic syndrome, a condition in which the kidneys fail to filter protein properly. It is treatable, and I responded quickly to steroids, but I struggled to taper the medication and relapsed repeatedly. What followed were years of treatment, monitoring, and uncertainty—difficult years for my parents, who had to navigate the Italian healthcare system once we returned home after the summer.
Yet throughout all of it, Dr Fine continued to guide and support them, even from thousands of miles away. From California to Italy and every distance in between, his dedication never wavered. He went far beyond what anyone could have expected, ensuring I received the care I needed no matter where life took me.
My parents say I began telling them I wanted to be a doctor soon after those early encounters—with no real understanding of what that meant at the time, of course. But the seed was planted. Through years of illness, recovery, and the reassuring presence of this extraordinary doctor, that early dream grew into something more. I didn’t simply want to become a doctor; medicine was becoming part of who I was.
When I eventually outgrew my nephrotic syndrome, it felt entirely natural that my parents welcomed Richard and his wife Shawney into our home when they visited Italy for a medical conference. That visit marked the beginning of a lifelong friendship—one that influenced not only my childhood but also the core of my professional identity.
As a teenager, I shadowed Richard at Stony Brook Hospital. His calm guidance, quiet confidence, and genuine love for the profession left a deep imprint on me. Our conversations—about compassion, responsibility, and what it truly means to care for people—have followed me through every stage of my training and into my own practice today. Those experiences formed a foundation of professional values and clinical integrity that I rely on every day in my work.
Years later, he even spoke at my wedding—despite a brief interruption from my A&E rota coordinator asking if I could cover a shift. I had to gently remind her that I was, in fact, getting married.
Richard went on to have an extraordinary career: Head of Transplants for the United States, Dean of Stony Brook Medical School, and mentor to countless students, colleagues, and clinicians. Yet no matter how distinguished his titles became, he remained the same caring, generous, thoughtful doctor I first encountered as a sick toddler in Los Angeles. His example embodied the essence of what we now refer to as clinical excellence, professional leadership, and evidence-based practice long before those terms became fashionable.
School was never easy for me—particularly the sciences. Literature and history felt natural; biology and chemistry did not. But I pushed myself, again and again, because I knew the path I wanted to follow. I wanted to walk in the footsteps of the doctor who had shown my family such kindness and stability. And I wanted to honour the inspiration he planted early and quietly.
Throughout my career, I have been fortunate to learn from many mentors, and I am deeply grateful for each one. But Richard Fine shaped my life in a way that was never deliberate or orchestrated. Simply by being who he was—consistently, authentically, wholeheartedly—he helped me become who I am.
Although Rodolico Health is still at the beginning of its own journey, we continue to grow in ways that are both humbling and inspiring. This clinic has already been shaped by the support of so many people—colleagues, mentors, patients, friends, and the generous professionals who have shared their expertise through our blog. I am deeply grateful to each person who has contributed their knowledge and perspective. Building Rodolico Health is a collaborative process, and every insight helps us create a more compassionate, informed, and patient-centred space for the community we serve.
People often ask what I do. But that has always felt like the wrong question.
What I do is medicine—but who I am is a doctor.
And that distinction is rooted in those earliest experiences with Dr Fine, nurtured over decades through his example.
We live in a world that moves quickly, one where technology keeps us connected yet can also leave us strangely distant. It is easy to imagine that we rely less on one another. But role models still matter. Inspiration across generations remains timeless. And the influence of a doctor who embodies wisdom, compassion, and integrity can transcend geography, decades, and even memory.
Richard Fine has been that role model for me.
And through my work, I hope to pass even a fraction of that inspiration on.
Learn More About My Journey
If you’d like to know more about my path into medicine, the values that guide my work, and the story behind Rodolico Health, you can read more here: About Dr Lisa Rodolico
If you feel you would benefit from a calm, patient-centred conversation about your own health: