Robert J. Giusti, MD

As a college student at Columbia University, I was a proud member of the crew team. Rowing is the perfect team sport: eight oarsmen and the coxswain must work in sync to propel the boat forward and ensure success. Everyone must pull together.

Now, as the founder and director of the Pediatric Cystic Fibrosis Center, part of Hassenfeld Children’s Hospital at NYU Langone, I am pleased to have developed a team that follows the same ideals. This group consists of specialists from various disciplines—including nurses, social workers, nutritionists, child life specialists, and respiratory and physical therapists—working in sync to ensure optimal care for our patients.

Our Pediatric Cystic Fibrosis Center is accredited by the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Collaborating with the foundation has been highly rewarding and has led to many milestones in improving the quality and longevity of life for people with cystic fibrosis.

The foundation values family-centered care—partnering with patients and their families through treatment. It’s a model of care I have incorporated into my treatment of children with cystic fibrosis and other chronic respiratory illnesses, such as asthma, chronic cough, recurrent pneumonia, chronic bronchitis, primary ciliary dyskinesia, and immotile cilia syndrome.