Peter M. Rosenberg, M.D

PHYSICIAN Q&A
From Beantown to the Rose City with Peter M. Rosenberg, M.D.

In case you were wondering, you can’t "pahk the cah in Hahvahd yahd" because it’s off limits to motorists. However, one of HMF’s newest doctors knows plenty about navigating around Boston. Just ask him!

Name?

Peter M. Rosenberg, M.D.

Specialty?

Gastroenterology

You’re board certified in both internal medicine and gastroenterology. Why the shift to gastroenterology?

I loved internal medicine, but gastroenterologists get to do procedures, which are both challenging and fun.

Fun?

Thanks to technology, it’s like playing Nintendo and helping patients at the same time.

When did you first become interested in medicine?

I can’t remember a time when I didn’t want to be a doctor. I think I had a toy stethoscope before I could walk! I “played doctor” a lot and never wanted to be the patient. I still don’t like being a patient. But then again, most doctors make terrible patients.

Any other doctors in your family?

Yes, my father is a psychiatrist, and one uncle is an orthopedist. I always wanted to be like my dad, and as it turns out, gastroenterology and psychiatry are linked. A lot of people put all of their stress into their GI tract.

Future doctors often major in biology or chemistry, but your undergraduate degree is in the “History of Science.” How did this prepare you for medical school?

History of Science was a great way of tying together my interest in science and medicine with my interest in the humanities. Studying the history of medicine gives you a great sense of perspective—and a little bit of intellectual humility.

So you learned about the breakthroughs and the bloopers?

Very smart physicians in the past wholeheartedly believed in theories and practices that we consider absurd these days. You just know that physicians a few decades from now will be saying, "What was that guy Rosenberg doing?"

You earned both a B.A. and M.D. from Harvard, did your residency and fellowship at Harvard hospitals, and then completed their program in clinical effectiveness. What kept you there? Was the cafeteria food that good?

No, but I used the gym for free! To tell the truth, I was afraid to leave. They usually don’t let you back in once you’re gone. I didn’t leave Harvard until I came to Los Angeles in 1999.

After all that time on campus, can you still sing “Fair Harvard”?

Actually, the unofficial school song is “10,000 Men of Harvard,” which I played many times in marching band. I gave up performing the day my tuba fell apart on the field in the middle of a halftime show!.

You’ve been in Southern California five years now. What absolutely proved that you weren’t in Boston anymore?

I was practicing in Santa Monica and had to inject Botox into a patient’s esophagus. The nurses wanted the leftovers for their frown lines! In fact, I had to add two new sections to my patient questionnaire: “previous plastic surgeries” and “herbal medicine use.” I had never seen so much of either on the East Coast.

What do you do outside the office?

My daughter Katie keeps me busy. She’s almost seven and loves sports, bugs, snakes, dogs, any animal that lives in the water, and exotic civilizations like the ancient Egyptians, the Mayas, and the Incas.

Plus, I love to travel, read, hike, golf, ski, and swim. I’ve even taken up surfing. It’s a good thing I can swim pretty well, because I end up in the water most of the time!