Fred Kirchner Jr., M.D., here with Jonathan MacCabe, M.D., is retiring this month after 37 years at Vanderbilt. (photo by Dana Johnson)
Kirchner ready to embrace challenges, joys of retirement
Kirchner with his wife, Joyce Johnson, M.D., second from right, and, from left, her parents, Joyce and Okey Johnson Jr., daughter Anna, husband Fred Kirchner, M.D., son Matt and, in front, daughter Margaret. (photo by Anne Rayner)
Fred Kirchner Jr., M.D., jokes that he arrived at Vanderbilt in 1970 by accident and stayed on purpose. Kirchner will retire this month after 37 years at Vanderbilt, first as an associate professor in the Department of Urology and then as the associate dean of Graduate Medical Education.
His successor is Donald Brady, M.D., who came to Vanderbilt from Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, where he was associate vice-chair for Education and co-director of the Internal Medicine residency program. Brady, who has been at VUMC since October, officially takes the helm Jan. 1, 2008.
Dressed in his trademark suspenders and with his tousled white hair, Kirchner said he tends to rely on intuition to tell him when it's time for a change. He turned 66 this year and said the time seems right to step aside and let someone bring a fresh perspective to the Office of Graduate Medical Education, which oversees the administration and education of 850 residents and clinical fellows, ensures compliance of the residency program to all state and federal regulations, and is responsible for the institutional review that takes place every five years.
“Fred has done an outstanding job as our Designated Institutional Official and as leader of our Graduate Medical Education office for many years,” said Vanderbilt University School of Medicine Dean Steven Gabbe, M.D. “We are grateful for his dedication, his easygoing manner and the degree of professionalism which he brought to his job. We wish Fred all the best as he enters this new season of his life.”
Kirchner grew up in Albany, N.Y., and attended Dickinson College in Carlisle, Penn. He graduated from Cornell Medical College in 1967. He did a transitional internship at the University of Vermont and that's when he decided to specialize in urology.
“I was drifting toward internal medicine, which I enjoyed, but I always liked the surgical specialties, and urology was the one I enjoyed the most,” he said. “Urology is a good mix of medicine and surgery.”
He spent two years in the U.S. Air Force as a general medical officer. Based in Smyrna, Tenn., Kirchner would often come to Vanderbilt for urology conferences. A residency slot became available, and he came to Vanderbilt to finish his training, thinking that when his residency ended, he would return to the Northeast. He instead joined the Department of Urology in 1975 and became the part-time associate dean of Graduate Medical Education in 1988. He took over the position full time in 1999.
“One of the things I've really liked about my job is getting to interact with and meet with a whole bunch of people around this Medical Center whom I would never have had the opportunity to know otherwise,” he said. “The residents are great. They are bright and intelligent and in medicine for all of the right reasons. I'm just really impressed with the house staff.”
Kirchner and Joyce Johnson, M.D., associate professor of Pathology, have been married for 19 years. Johnson said her husband will stay busy managing their bustling household and the lives of their three children: Matthew, 17, Anna, 14, and Margaret, 6, and visiting his adult daughter Lisa, and two grandchildren, Anya and Max.
Johnson, who is 17 years younger than Kirchner, works full time in Pathology and is in the middle of her career, said Kirchner's retiring comes at a good time.
“The logistics of family life will get simpler,” she said. “The wisdom and experience of someone who has lived for 66 years is a gift to all of us. Fred grew up in a simpler time and reminds us that modern technology is not always critical to a happy life.”