Alumni Spotlight: Andy Fine ‘87

For this month’s alumni spotlight, the News checked in with Andy Fine ‘87, once editor-in-chief of the News and now senior associate physician in Pediatrics in the Division of Emergency Medicine at the Boston Children’s Hospital in Massachusetts. 

At Gilman back in the eighties, as a twelve-year-man, Dr. Fine involved himself in numerous activities. He said, “Like everybody, I tried to do a bunch of different things, and one of the great things about Gilman is you have the opportunity to not just take great classes from passionate teachers but also get involved in other activities.” Dr. Fine joined the News as a freshman, first as a reporter. By senior year, he had worked himself up the ladder, which “was a lot of work, but also really fun.” Outside of the News, Dr. Fine played varsity lacrosse and varsity basketball. When asked about his favorite teachers, Dr. Fine responded, “Back in lower school, Ms. Betsy McDonald set the tone, she taught us so much about how to be kind to each other, and then in middle school I had a lot of passionate teachers like Mr. Don Abrams for French, and finally moving on to highschool I think Mr. Anton Vishio for Latin was really inspirational about his subject and so was Mr. Daniel Christian, who loved the material that he taught, whether it was Charles Dickens or teaching about religion, and then also brought that energy onto the basketball court, where he was one of my coaches.” Dr. Fine said that there were too many memories to cite them all, but specifically remembered the Chariot Race in middle school, the pep-rallies before Gilman-McDonogh games, and the senior speeches as well as the antics that occurred in the crowd during them. He also relished his time in 3:10 freshman study hall. When asked about how Gilman shaped him, Dr. Fine responded that pretty much every day, he can hear something that Headmaster Redmond C.S. Finney said in the back of his mind. Dr. Fine said, “He taught us how to respect other people and how to act like a first class citizen. I think I really value how to work in teams, and Gilman taught me a lot about relying on other people and about other people relying on you and the value of teamwork and collaboration.” He said that Gilman also taught him to always make the things around him better. It’s Gilman that makes him pick up the piece of trash on the street. Another thing that has really stuck with him is Mr. Finney’s quote, “it takes years to build a reputation and only seconds to destroy it.” Dr. Fine said, “That is something that I’ve tried to pass on to other people as well.”       

After Gilman, Dr. Fine attended Harvard University, where he majored in American history and was one of the sport’s editors for the Harvard Crimson. He also played JV lacrosse. On his time at Harvard, Dr. Fine said, “I think that similar to Gilman, it was great being exposed to first off the great faculty and academic work but also the opportunity to learn from each other.” Dr. Fine mentioned that these people, both from high school and from college, are his lifelong friends. He then went off to the University of Pennsylvania for medical school, which he noted was far more like Gilman than college because of the small class size. What Dr. Fine really enjoyed about medical school was being able to interact with all different types of patients. Although the first couple of years were more challenging because he had not taken as many STEM classes at Harvard, he really enjoyed the clinical side. He said, “I felt like I was able to connect with people in the clinical rotations well and try to learn as much as I could from my patients and from once again, great teachers.” Finally, Dr. Fine finished his education by completing his residency in San Francisco. For Dr. Fine, residency was a whole different story because he was now making decisions and doing procedures that were really going to be impactful on people’s lives. He worked late hours and did not sleep much, ultimately choosing to go into pediatrics. Dr. Fine said, “I knew that I liked working with children, but what I wasn’t as prepared for was having to interact with the parents of children as much as you do because you are taking care of the child but you are really taking care of the entire family when they are in their most serious state and at serious times.” Still, he reflected merrily on his time in California, as he and his wife had moved out there just after they had gotten married and were able to spend their honeymoon years in San Francisco. 

Currently, Dr. Fine is on the faculty at Harvard Medical School and is an attending physician at Boston Children’s Hospital in the Emergency Department. He takes care of infants and children from all walks of life and in all conditions. Dr. Fine said, “During any given shift in the Emergency Department, I can be taking care of a patient who is critically ill and has been through a terrible trauma or undergone a serious medical emergency to patients who have minor cuts and bruises and colds.” He mentioned that what makes it even harder is that he can sometimes see these patients right after the other, saying, “One of the things that’s really challenging is having to come out of resuscitating a patient and then going to see another patient whose condition is much less severe but the parents are still obviously quite worried.” Along with working in the Emergency Department, Dr. Fine teaches students and residents and works collaboratively with doctors from other divisions, such as surgeons, in order to coordinate the best care for all people. He also does research, and is currently focusing on trying to improve the efficiency of care in the Emergency Department, noting that often patients have to wait for hours before being seen. He is working on algorithms that will hopefully speed up the admission process. 

Dr. Fine said that outside of work, his favorite place to be is with his family, especially in Martha’s Vineyard, where he can “spend time in a relaxing place, surrounded by nature, exercising and reading and doing the things I love with my family, including my wife Laura and our two children Henry (age 23) and Hannah (age 21).” When asked what makes Gilman special, Dr. Fine quickly responded “absolutely the people, from my fellow students to my teachers.” He is thankful for the life lessons from Gilman that stick with him on a day to day basis, such as the right way to treat other people. When meeting someone, he says he looks them in the eye and offers a firm handshake, which was reinforced time and again at Gilman. He stated, “Gilman is a really special place that instills values into boys who are given the opportunity to learn at the highest level and are encouraged to participate in as many extracurriculars that they can fit into their busy schedules. It churns out people with high moral character who want to try to improve the world around them.” 

Dr. Fine ended his interview with a message for all to join The News. He said, “Learning and practicing how to write effectively and persuasively is a lifelong skill that will do you well no matter what field you pick. Furthermore, you can be fully committed and get involved in all aspects of the newspaper, whether that be editing or writing or advertising. There’s something really important about being in an organization like the News which puts out a high quality production several times a year. It’s something you can look back on and be proud of participating in.”