My Dad, the Doctor -- Chris Iannuccilli
Chris Iannuccilli, Guest Contributor
My Dad, the Doctor -- Chris Iannuccilli
And man, did he study. My uncle Peter and all of his cousins (who lived right next door in Mt. Pleasant – they actually shared a driveway) spoke of always seeing him in his upstairs bedroom window, light on, hunched over his books. He was class president at George J. West Junior High, and valedictorian at Classical.
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My Dad went to PC. In a fit of curiosity while at my grandparent’s house, I rummaged through the stuff in his room and found his class list. I couldn’t believe it, it was all microbiology, chemistry, physics, and not a single English, humanities or language course. Wall-to-wall science. He lived at home, took the bus to PC, and except for his time watching Jimmy Walker and the NIT-winning Friars, studied his a– off.
And headed to Albany Medical School for more educational rigor, his parents and aunts driving him away from home for the first time. They ate homemade meatball sandwiches on the way. Graduation, residency at Rhode Island Hospital, and a specialty in gastroenterology followed. He set up practice on the East Side, in what would become a 30-year career seeing patients. I’m pretty sure he’s never had a sick day. And he’s certainly always had time for anyone with a medical question.
At the club, at family gatherings, phone calls from family and friends – every time anyone was sick they called Dr. Ed, and he never turned them away or gave any hint that he was on personal time. Even today, I call him with every ailment.
But somewhere along the way, my dad, the doctor, started to expand. He and his fellow docs Joe Dimase and Nick Califano set up a successful practice next to the hospital, then they built a building and moved next door, and filled it with more practices. It wasn’t the best neighborhood then; my brother and I and Joe’s son Danny cleared the weeds around the building, surrounded by a wire fence and local characters all around.
He and more docs founded University Health Collective, got sued by Blue Cross for threatening their monopoly, and won.
He founded a few start-ups in biotech and medical delivery.
He got involved in hospital administration and became the chairman of the board of his beloved Rhode Island Hospital, leading it through its partnership with Hasbro, building the children’s hospital, and receiving the Rhode Island Hospital President's Lifetime Achievement Award in 2019. He was surprised when we wanted to come to the event to celebrate him.
And he started to scratch the humanities itch that started when he missed those courses in college. He taught himself piano and takes lessons to this day. He learned Italian, and he continues those classes to this day. Since then, he’s squired us and his friends and cousins around Italy, rusty but proficient.
And he started to write. And write, and write, and write. My Grandfather’s Fig Tree was his first book, a collection of stories he had originally photocopied and his wife Diane bound in a book for his kids at Christmas. What Ever Happened to Sunday Dinner? and My Story Continues followed.
Hundreds of pieces in GoLocalProv. Head over to Roger Williams University and you might hear him read one of them, and for $25, get a book AND a meatball sandwich.
Along the way, he’s become a chronicler of the immigrant experience in the U.S. I’ve shared his books with all my friends, Italian, Jewish, Greek…anyone who looks like they gathered around a Sunday dinner when they grew up. My dad the doctor was just inducted into the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame. He could have been recognized in the Medicine & Healthcare category,
Or, the Entrepreneurs and Historians categories.
So, on Father’s Day, I’m going to embarrass my dad with this story, share this picture of him that I drew way back when of the doctor who became so much more.
Chris Iannuccilli is one of Dr. Ed Iannucilli's sons and an executive at Google.