Dr. Miriam Behar helps parents and caregivers raise healthy children

This week’s Making the Rounds features Miriam Behar, MD, a primary care pediatrician in the division of general pediatrics. Dr. Behar provides medical care for patients from birth generally to the age of 18, and her main focus is helping parents and caretakers raise healthy children. We caught up with Dr. Behar about her passion for educating families and why she loves primary care.

What is it like to be a primary care pediatrician? 

Most of the work that we do is preventative. In my specialty, I take care of mostly healthy children. If they're sick, I can usually treat most things. But if they have a really specialized problem, I have to send them on to a specialist. But really my focus is partnering with parents and caretakers to raise healthy children and help them to make appropriate choices regarding all kinds of things in terms of nutrition and exercise and in following development and growth.

What’s your favorite thing about your work? 

The coolest part of doing primary care is the continuity. Ideally, you get a child as soon as they're born and then you stay in a place long enough that you watch them grow up. You become kind of a member of the family. You're the person that the caretakers trust to give them guidance about what's the best thing to do for their child when they're healthy or when they're sick. And then as the kids grow older, you develop your own individual connection with the kids as they become sentient and can really communicate with you on their own.

Tell us about your approach to patient care.

I feel like I'm very thorough and I advocate for my patients as strongly as I can, which often involves following up in the evening or following up on weekends. I will not rest, basically, until I feel like I've explored every possibility and tried to get that patient and that family to the best possible care.

Watch our full interview with Dr. Miriam Behar.