In early January, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) announced the passing of DeWitt C. “Bud” Baldwin Jr., MD, at age 99. The namesake of RFU’s Institute for Interprofessional Education, Dr. Baldwin was a pediatrician, psychiatrist and family physician who pioneered the pedagogy of healthcare collaboration.
Dr. Baldwin’s career spanned seven decades, including professorial appointments across multiple fields at more than a dozen medical and graduate schools. This inspired his groundbreaking advocacy for communication and collaboration among medical teams.
“If you do it together, you do it better than if you do it by yourself.”
RFU first honored Dr. Baldwin with a Doctorate in Humane Letters in 2011. In May 2014, the Baldwin Institute was dedicated in the Health Sciences Building with a mission to support, advance and sustain RFU’s interprofessional educational activities, including clinical rotations.
At the dedication ceremony, Dr. Baldwin was accurately described as the soul, conscience and courage of graduate medical education, and his vision was summarized with a memorable quote: “If you do it together, you do it better than if you do it by yourself.”