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Major Richard Barnett and Lieutenant Commander Robin Lindsay tie for top score on ABFPRS examination to win 2009 Anderson Prize
Drs. Richard Barnett and Robin Lindsay are tied for the highest score on the
2009 ABFPRS examination and will be awarded the Jack R. Anderson Prize for
Scholastic Excellence at the AAFPRS Fall Meeting in San Diego, California.
"We haven't had a tie for the Anderson Award since Drs. Christopher Lykins,
Steven Davison, and Daniel Alam had a three-way tie for the highest score in
2002, "notes Shan Baker, M.D., ABFPRS President. "I'm thrilled that Drs. Barnett
and Lindsay, who each took the examination via different pathways and are both
active duty military surgeons, have achieved this tremendous personal
accomplishment. "
Major Barnett says that the field of medicine was the perfect career choice for
him. "I chose medicine because I like instant gratification-you know-being able
to see the results of helping someone right away. It's very fulfilling. Some of my
friends went into Wall Street for their careers, but I was made for medicine," he
states.
Barnett's medical training started in the Air Force at Keesler Air Force Base in
Biloxi, Mississippi. He completed an additional year at Keesler in flight surgery,
but was anxious to get back into otolaryngology. "I was trying to work my way
back into ENT and luckily, Dr. Ronald Amedee, Department Chair at Tulane,
saved a residency spot in the otolaryngology department for me when I came
back to Tulane in 2003. Things were going along just great until August 29, 2005.
Hurricane Katrina hit that day and God it was awful-it took months for us to get
everything going again as much as possible, but it was just too much, for too
many people. By the time the exodus had died down, so many people had left
the city, there just weren't enough patients left in New Orleans for me to take
care of. I wasn't going to be able to finish my residency," relates Barnett.
His medical training got back on track because Brian Burkey, M.D., helped
arrange a transfer for Barnett to Vanderbilt University. "Boy was I lucky," stresses
Barnett. "In addition to Dr. Burkey at Vanderbilt, I was fortunate enough to come
under the wing of Dr. James Netterville-he fostered a love of reconstructive
work that has never left me. I also got to train with Drs. Russell Ries and Mark
Clymer-all of those surgeons were amazing."
When Barnett finished his residency at Vanderbilt in 2007 he went straight to
Eglin Air Force Base where he continues to practice both cosmetic and
reconstructive facial plastic surgery. Barnett continues, "That's why I wanted to
complete ABFPRS certification. In the Air Force, if you have your ABFPRS
certificate, they will put me in a place where soldiers who have been injured in
Iraq and Afghanistan are coming in off the battlefield. There is such a need for
our specialty in the military-it's where I can do the most good. I see myself
doing this until I retire," he concludes.
Lieutenant Commander Lindsay cannot ever remember a time when she didn't
want to be a physician. "When I was 15, a family member became ill, and I
became aware of the importance of physicians not only in the treatment of
disease, but also in their personal interactions with patients and their families. It
was this combination of the practical application of science with interpersonal
communications to affect positive change in people's lives that first drew me into
the field of medicine," she explains.
Lindsay completed medical school at the University of Virginia, where Dr. Richard
Edlich first sparked her interest in in academic plastic surgery. She went on to
finish her internship at Portsmouth Naval Hospital, and then her otolaryngology
residency at the National Capital Consortium in July 2006. "Entering residency, I
knew facial plastics would be my field because I was inspired by so many
excellent surgeons-Dr. Jonathan Sykes, Dr. Catherine Winslow, Dr. Jennifer
Henderson, and Dr. Ife Sofola-all of them influenced my decision that this was
the specialty for me," she confides.
Once she decided upon her specialty track, Dr. Lindsay chose to complete an
AAFPRS fellowship with Drs. Mack Cheney and Tessa Hadlock at the
Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary. "I feel that completing an AAFPRS
fellowship has been a career changing experience," expresses Lindsay.
"Mack Cheney and Tessa Hadlock not only increased my surgical expertise and
knowledge of facial plastic surgery, they taught me the meaning of true
mentorship and becoming part of a team in which the capabilities of the whole
are greater than the sum of each individual member," she emphasizes.
Although Dr. Lindsay is currently an active duty Lieutenant Commander stationed
at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, her plans are to
eventually return to Boston one day to work with Cheney and Hadlock at the
Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary. "I want to pursue a career in academic
facial plastic surgery so I can continue to educate medical students, residents,
and eventually fellows. I'd like to create the same experience for others that I
received from my training, which was that it's about so much more than gaining
individual facts. Mack and Tessa made sure my fellowship was centered on
realizing my potential in medicine through the support of and collaboration with
others. That's what mentoring is all about and I'd like to inspire and encourage
others in the same way," she concludes.
The 2010 examination will be given June 26-27 in Washington, DC. To register
for the exam as a fellow or apply for certification, go to www.abfprs.org, click on
Applying, then on Fellow Track or Regular Track, as applicable, and follow
instructions from there. Or contact the ABFPRS office at 115-C South Saint
Asaph Street, Alexandria, VA, 22314; phone (703) 549-3223; info@abfprs.org.
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